Falling Stars: The Advent of War
by Glen Aaronson
Summary: *INFINITELY DISCONTINUED. WILL POST APOLOGY SOON. STARTING ON MY OWN LUCKY STAR/FALLOUT STORY SOON.*
1. This is only the beginning

Hello there everyone whom is reading this, I am Glen Aaronson. Now if you came to read this story mostly because of title, then I must say something: yes, this is a continuation of Tastychainsaws' Falling Stars. Also I have direct permission to continue his story or at least I believe I do. But anyway, this is one of the first stories I've written so if you are going it judge it, be a little gentle. But now on to the story.

**Somewhere above the Capital Wasteland**

"July forth, twenty-two eighty-three. Journal entry four-seven-one-one. Today is the pre-war holiday known as Independence Day which was set in place to mark the day Colonial America declared its independence from the British Empire. That does remind me. I need to talk with Abraham Washington about purchasing the Declaration of Independence. I highly doubt he will sell it to me but you know the old saying, 'Every man has his price.'

"It has been just under five years, nine months since the Battle of Adams Air Force Base. During the battle, thanks to the actions of a Kagami and Konata Izumi, both the Citadel and the Enclave's Mobile Crawler Base were destroyed by some form of orbital weapon. Also apparently there has been some kind of plague going around the Capital Wasteland that had killed off most, if not all, mutated beings and quite a few humans. After taking a sample from the newly purified water, I found out that it was actually a modified version of the Forced Evolution Virus. Curiouser and curiouser. But anyway, I was able to collect DNA samples from all species that were forced into extinction by this. According to a contact of mine, the population of Deathclaws in Old Olney has somehow survived. Probably no thanks to my niece, that clever little bitch.

"Anyway, lets go onto more important subjects. Subject two-MI, known as Minami Iwasaki before death, has been completely rebuilt and taken out of one of pods since my last entry last week. It was a long and arduous process, mostly due to minute amount of remains left, but the technology salvaged from Vault 108 was able to pull it off with very few complications. I had to manually insure that Cannibalism gene had been introduced into her body but that was the only real problem that was encountered.

"Kou believes that it could be upwards of a week before she awakens but I predict that Iwasaki-san could awaken as soon as midnight tonight.

"Subject one-NK, known as Nanako Kuroi before death, has been giving the Machine an outrageously large amount of trouble. This could possibly attributed to the amount of damage that was inflicted the remains I was able to salvage from the Citadel, pre-war name is the Pentagon, causing the Machine to be unable to completely rebuild her DNA sequence. About a month ago, I had Kou return to Raven Rock, which by the time she had returned had been completely abandoned by her former employers for quite some time, and collect some hair and tissues from Kuroi-san's former room. Luckily, the samples that Kou had return with had been sufficient enough to complete Kuroi-san's DNA sequence. But I fear that its going to be at least another six months before she is completely rebuilt unless I can somehow figure to speed up the process.

"Now on to Subject zero-GA, known a-" A series of knocks interrupted the recorder.

"Sir?" A female voice said from the other side of an automatic doors that lead into the dark room. "Sir? Its me Kou Yasaka." The voice added quickly before it was followed by another series of knocks.

The recorder sighed before he said rather angrily, "I know it's you, Kou. We are the only two conscious people on this damned, bloody craft." The man grumbled something else before he turned off the holo-tape recorder he had been speaking to.

The automatic door leading into the room opened up, flooding part of the near light-less room with the bright light from the corridor. In the doorway stood the silhouette of a rather tall woman with short hair. "Sir, you know its not very smart to sit in a room with all the lights turned off." The silhouetted woman scolded before flipping the light switch, filling the rest of the rather small room with light and revealing the two people to each other.

The room was just about completely bare with the exception of a comfortable-looking chair, a small table that stood next to the chair, and a small pile of neatly stacked holo-disk tapes in the corner. A rather tall man with cobalt blue hair holding a lit cigarette in the fingers of his right hand was currently occupied the chair. His body was clothed in the classic uniform of a Enclave Officer with a pure white overcoat on top of it. Emerald green eyes stared angrily at the woman for disturbing his peace, "What is it this time, Kou?"

The woman he was addressing Kou Yasaka, a former colonel with The Enclave, hence the reason why she was wearing an Enclave Officer uniform also. Sighing, the golden-eyed woman played with a lock of her short blonde hair before she finally answered the blunette man. "Well," Kou began, switching from her former formal tone to a more causal one. "It would seem you were right about Iwasaki. She's walking up as we speak."

"Seriously?" The man asked as he jammed the cigarette into an ashtray on the table and stood up. A wide smirk spread slowly across his lips hinting that his sour mood had already cleared up.

Kou nodded before she stepped back out of the doorway to allow the man to stride past her and down the corridor. The entire facility that the two companions currently occupied was completely windowless, with the exception of one way windows next to some of the doors they passed, and made out a oddly clean metal.

It didn't take the pair that long to find the automatic door that lead into the room that Minami had been placed in. The blunette man reached forward to the door to touch the door but stopped. "Kou, stay out here and observe. Only enter if Iwasaki-san proves to be hostile." He said as he looked back at his companion. The golden-eyed woman nodded before she walked over to stand in front of the one-way window next to the door. Keeping up his smirk, he placed his hand on the door.

**POV Change**

Minami Iwasaki had just finished dressing herself in the clothing that she had found on a small table next to the bed she had woken up on when the door to the small room suddenly opened up. In a single fluid movement, the mint-green-haired woman grabbed her katana, Vampire's Edge, from the bedside table, unsheathed it, and pointed it at the man who stepped into the room.

"I see that your reflexes weren't damaged. That's good, that's very good." The man said with a light chuckle as he slowly raised his hands to show that he wasn't armed.

Minami didn't respond at first as she moved into a position so she was now standing several feet infront of the man. With a quick flick of her eyes, she completely examined the man. For some reason, this man reminded a lot of her friend, Konata, mostly because of his cobalt blue hair, emerald green eyes, even the very small beauty mark under the corner of his left eye. "Who are you?" She asked tersely after a few tense moments.

The man chuckled lightly as he just looked at Minami. After another few moments, he finally answered, "You may call me simply, W."

"Alright then, W. Mind telling what the Enclave wants with me?" Minami asked as she kept Vampire's Edge trained on W's throat. Something about this man was really unnerved her.

"I don't think they would want anything to do with you much of anymore, mostly because you are largely believed to be dead. And by dead, I mean REALLY dead." W said simply with his classic smirk.

Minami blinked at this comment before pressing the tip of her katana into this strange man's throut. "If I'm dead then how am I talking am I talking to you right now?"

W avoided chuckling this time since the movement could possibly cut his throat open. "What is the last thing you remember?" He asked with a rather serious tone.

"Me and a friend of mine were getting on a underground transit train bound for Adams Air Force Base. Why? What does it matter?" Minami asked with a deadly glare as she pressed the tip a bit farther.

Gulping, W gave her a rather nervous smile as he said, "Because approximately five hours later you were killed by at least thirteen Deathclaws that were being held at Adams Air Force Base. And saying that they had simply killed you is a vast understatement of what happened to you."

Minami blinked as she lowered Vampire's Edge a bit. Something in the back of her head said this man was telling her the truth but she couldn't be sure. W took advantage of Minami's break in guard to take a step backwards out of Minami's reach. "Well, Iwasaki-san, if you don't mind I have other things to deal with. If and when you are ready to leave just press the button on the intercom and I'll be here in a few moments." W said with his classic smirk as he motioned to a small intercom box built into the wall next to the door. "Also, we need to go over a few things when you are ready to leave."

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Minami looked at W again and silently cursed at herself for letting down her guard. "Like what?" She asked as she sheathed Vampire's Edge.

"We'll talk about that before you leave." The blunette man said as he stepped back out into the corridor.

**POV Change**

W let out a relieved sigh after the automatic door closed in front of him. "Are you alright, W?" Kou asked as she placed a hand on W's shoulder.

Nodding a bit before he quickly recollected himself, W began to walked down the corridor back the way they had come from, Kou was quick to follow after the man. "Well...that was an interesting experience. I hadn't predicted she would actually pull a sword out on me." He said with a smirk as he looked back at Kou. Kou only gave him a small smile and was about to say something when a series of explosions suddenly ripped through the facility. The concussive force of the explosions threw Kou and W against the wall, knocking the pair clean out. When the two came about a few hours later, they had found that both Minami Iwasaki and W's fabled Subject zero-GA were no where to be found.

**3 Months Later**

W grinned widely as he pressed his finger tips together, leaned back into the chair he was sitting in, and stared at the computer screen in front of him. He had pulled off the borderline impossible in this last few days. He had figured out how to rebuild an entire human body in about 5 days time instead of the 6 to 10 months it used to take. "You think we should take her out now?" Kou asked, who had been leaning against W's chair and watching him at work.

The blunette man nodded before he stood up and walked across the room over to a massive pod that had originally been used to suspend people in cryo-stasis. "Remember one thing though, Kou." W said as he pressed a few keys on a data pad on the side of the pod.

"What?" Kou asked, finding it hard to contain her excitement for this glorious moment. W didn't say anything at first as he took a step back and watched as the yellowish liquid began to drain from the pod into a series of tubes leading else where in the craft. Bit by bit, a naked, completely recreated Nanako Kuroi was revealed to the two companions. Life-supporting machinery and tubes detached from key points on Kuroi's body as the pod opened up.

As Nanako Kuroi's eyes fluttered open, W grinned widely and said, "This is only the beginning."


	2. The Heroes are Introduced

Wow, it took me a hell of a lot longer to get this chapter up then I thought it, mostly because of distraction. Also, if I didn't say this on the last chapter: The original Falling Stars story belongs to Tastychainsaws, Fallout 3 belongs to Bethesda, and Lucky Star and characters belongs to Kagami Yoshimizu

**The Bethesda Ruins**

"Goddammit Konata!" Kagami Izumi yelled as she dove behind the burnt out carcass of a pre-war car. "How many times have I told you to not take potshots at raiders?!" She added as her cobalt blue haired wife joined her a millisecond later. A second after that, a barrage of gunfire began to tear at the other side of the burnt car.

"Sorry, Kagamin!" Konata Izumi apologized as she glanced over the top of the car and fired off a round from her Gauss rifle at the group of slowly approaching group of raiders, blowing apart the torso of one of them. "How was I supposed to know that there would by hiding inside?" The blunette said, mustering one of her classic cat-like grins.

Kagami just sighed and shook her head before letting off a few blasts from her plasma rifle over the top of the car, taking out two raiders. She couldn't blame Konata for not knowing that was going to be raiders hiding in the surrounding ruins, hell, not even Kagami had anticipated that. The two of them were scouting the old Bethesda ruins a few miles north of the D.C. ruins for their friend, Miyuki Takara. A short story even shorter, the couple had spotted a small group of raiders patrolling the ruins, Konata decided to take a few of them out causing close to 3 dozen raiders to pour out of a few of the surrounding buildings when she pulled the trigger, forcing the pair to take cover. It wouldn't have been all that bad if some of the raiders weren't lugging around mini-guns and possibly a missile launcher or two.

Suddenly, Konata cursed loudly as she ducked back down behind the car and began to fiddle with her Gauss rifle. "I think this thing just jammed!" The blunette yelled over the gunfire. She continued to mess with the powerful gun for a few more moments before cursing loudly again, pulling out a 9mm pistol at her waist, and taking a few shots at the raiders with it, killing at least one raider.

"Isn't that fucking great!?" The lilac-haired woman growled as she took a few more shots at the raiders. After ducking back down behind the weakening cover, Kagami reached inside her messenger bag, pulled out one of their few remaining frag grenades, pulled the pin and tossed it over the top of the car. When it exploded a few seconds later, close to 10 raiders were taken out.

Kagami yelped as a bullet passed through the weakening metal of the car and right through her left shoulder. "I'm fine!" She said, noticing her cobalt blue haired mate give her a worried look.

Suddenly, a loud booming voice echoed easily over the sound of gunfire and plasma fire. "Hey ya, ass-fucking, monkey fuckers!" The voiced roared before it quickly added, "Why don't ya fuck with someone who can take a few bloody fucking rounds?!"

Simultaneously, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at the top of a rather intact office building where the booming voice had originated from. Standing on the edge of the roof was a tall man but because the sun was setting behind him and the building, it was hard for anyone to get a clear look at him. "Yeah? And who the fuck are you, asshole?" One of the twenty remaining raiders asked.

"My name?" The man said with hearty laugh. "My name's M!!" He roared before he launched himself off the edge of the building.

**POV Change**

M landed directly in the middle of the group of raiders, crushing two under his heavy combat boots while scattering the rest. Grinning widely, the massive man reached up and tightened the black headband around his bald head as he slowly stood up. His bright golden eyes looked around him at the surrounding shocked raiders. A pitch black trench coat, a blood-stained white tee-shirt, and a pair of baggy black pants clothed this massive man's body. The most startling thing about M, beyond the fact he was just below seven feet tall and was built like a super mutant, was that his skin was as red as blood. "What the hell are you?" A female raider asked as she stumbled back several feet from this giant man.

"Your worst fucking nightmare." M said with a wide grin and a light chuckle at the clichéd line. Suddenly, he pulled a super sledge off his back and smashed in the female raider's head as _The Metal_ by _Tenacious D_ began to echo through the Bethesda Ruins.

Most of the raiders ran while some stayed to stand their ground as M tore into the group like a bloody chainsaw. Any raider within reach was either smashed into a nice gory mess by M's super sledge or ripped limb from limb if they got a little too close to M. When every raider within his reach was dead, the red man quickly picked up a fallen mini gun, revved it up, and mowed down any raider that was stupid enough to still be out in open. By the time The Metal had finished playing for a third time, the street strewn dismembered body part, guts, fallen weaponry, and enough blood and gore to fill several Olympic-size swimming pools.

Smiling lightly to himself, M began to make his way over the field of gore - sheathing his super sledge on his back, dropping the mini gun that he had picked up, and then messing with something that was up his right sleeve - when something grabbed his left pants leg. Blinking, he looked down to see a barely alive raider that he ripped in half grabbing weakly at his leg. "May Hule watch over you." M murmured before pulling his leg free of the raider's grip and brought his booted foot down on the raider's head, crushing it like an egg.

**POV Change**

Kagami and Konata watched in shock and awe - Kagami in shock and Konata in awe - as the massive man who had called himself M tore through the group of raiders to the song _The Metal_ by _Tenacious D_. After the third playing of the song, it was all over with M standing in the middle of the field of gore, victorious. Most of the raiders were either tore apart, crushed to death by the super sledge the man was swinging around, or were gunned down when the man picked up a mini gun that a raider had dropped. M slowly began to make his way over the field of gore, stopping only for a moment to stomp down on something. When the man was within 10 feet of the burnt out car Kagami and Konata were hiding behind, Kagami stepped out from behind it with plasma rifle raised. "Alright, that's close enough." Kagami said tersely.

"Whoa whoa whoa, there. I don't mean ya any harm." M said as he stopped in his tracks and raised his hands slowly to show that wasn't armed. Kagami finally got a good look at this giant man. His attire borderline reminded her of the uniform that the Regulators wore, except his clothing was colored black instead of the tan color that the Regulator's uniform normally bore. Gore covered most of his forearms and his legs from the knees down, but that wasn't the thing that was most startling. The thing that was putting Kagami off the most was the fact this man's skin was as red as blood.

"Kagami, calm down. I hardly think he would save us from a bunch of raiders only to kill us himself." Konata said as she placed a hand on her lilac-haired mate's shoulder. Kagami glanced at Konata then back at M, who was only smiling as he watched the pair. Sighing, Kagami decided to trust Konata intuition and slowly lowered her plasma rifle but kept it out in case this giant decided to attack them.

Konata smiled and nodded before walking over to M. "Hey there. My name is Konata Izumi." The blunette said with a cat-like grin as she stuck out her right hand to the giant bald man.

M blinked as he looked down at the cobalt blue haired girl that had walked up to him and extended her right hand out to him. Shit, she was short compared to 6 foot 10 inch tall man, maybe only making it to the bottom of his chest, give or take an inch. Wiping his hands off on his already blood stained shirt, M knelled down in front of the small girl, gently took a hold of her hand, and gently shook it. "Nice ta meet'cha, Miss Konata. Name's Megalord vi Bronstar Knight, but ya can call me M." He said with a slight Brooklyn accent and a rather gentle smile. "'tually, I prefer ya call me M."

Konata was surprised that this giant, gore-covered man could be so gently, she was expecting him to act and talk roughly. Putting on a small smile, the otaku released M's hand as Kagami walked over and extended her free hand out to the red-skinned man. Before Kagami could introduce herself, Konata suddenly said, "And this is my wife, Kagami." This caused a rough sigh from Kagami and a rather confused look from M as the two shook hands.

"Wife? What does she mean that?" M asked as he slowly stood up and stretched his back a bit. He wasn't used to crouching, especially since it wasn't part of his usual combat routine.

"Um..." Kagami murmured as she scratched her left cheek and blushed slightly. It was rather hard to explain her relationship with the blunette to people that they have just met. "Well...we're married."

M blinked as he looked at the two with a raised eyebrow. "Huh..." M murmured as he scratched underneath his chin a bit. To normal people, it may have looked like M was trying to think, but to someone that actually knew M, he wasn't even paying attention, he was listening to the surrounding area in case any hostile forces were planning to attack.

Kagami and Konata watched the giant man for a moment before Kagami finally spoke up. "If you don't mind me asking, M-san. But what exactly are you? You're defiantly not human, not with what you did to those raiders, but you aren't like anything else we've seen in the Wasteland."

M stood there for a moment, scratching under his chin, only half-listening to what Kagami had said. "As clichéd as this sounds, I'ma super-soldier created by the U.S. milly back before the 'reat War. See?" M said with a wide grin as he reached inside his shirt and pulled out a pair of black dog tags.

Kagami took the pair of dog tags from M and read what was on them, while Konata looked over her shoulder to look at them. M was defiantly telling the truth, well, at least that he was born before the Great War and that he was soldier, something called a Lord Colonel apparently. "But this doesn't prove much of anything beyond the fact that you are 249 years old, which by the way is impossible." Kagami said as she hand the dog tags back to M.

"Well, com' on. I've gots red skin, I'm built like a bloody super mutant, and I'm just under 7 feet tall. Also, I just kicked the asses of a shit load of raidas." M said with a light laugh before motioning to field of gore that had once been a rather large group of raiders.

Kagami just sighed and shook her head, still not really believing this man's story. Konata on the other hand, firmly believed M's story. "If you really are a super soldier, can you lift really heavy things?" The short blunette said happily, excited to see what M could do. M only laughed in response before walking over to the car that Konata and Kagami was using as cover and placed his hand on the hood. Suddenly with a sickening crunch, his dug his fingers into metal of the hood. With a loud grunt, M lifted the car up above his head and threw it into the side of the building he had jumped off of. Both Kagami and Konata's jaws fell open at this spectacle of strength. "But-but-but-but... that's impossible!" Kagami stammered as she looked at where the car had once been and then at where it was now.

"Nyahahahaha!! I live to kick ta impossible's ass!" M laughed as he watched part of the office building crumble to the ground. Chuckling, he tightened up his headband a bit before looking down at the two girls. "So tell me. What'cha doing in a 'angerous place like this?"

"We were checking out this place for the Republic of Miyuki. Actually, we should probably get going if we are going to make it before nightfall." Konata said as she looked off in the direction of the setting sun. Kagami was still just standing there gawking at what M did with the car.

M just shook his head in disapproval before saying, "Nah nah nah, you'd neva make it. By now the raidas out by 'heaton Armory know what 'ere and be out lookin' for ya. You'd neva make it half-away before they're on top of ya like a bunch of wombats."

"Wombats?" Konata asked with a confused look.

"Vicious little bastard weasels. Rip ya face right off. Haven' seen one since the beginnin' of the 'reat War though." M said as he scratched under his chin again before shaking his head and looked back at Konata. Kagami was slowly coming out of her stupor when M said, "Anyways, I've gots a friend that lives only a half-an-hour from 'ere. In the mornin', I can walk ya girls back to the Republic place. 'tually, I was plannin' on goin' myself there in the mornin'."

"And why should we trust you?" Kagami asked skeptically before slinging her plasma rifle over her left shoulder. M only motioned towards the field of gore, dismembered corpses, and limbs that had once been a large group of raiders.

"Come on, Kagami, don't be tsundere. He saved our asses, you know." Konata said as the short blunette and bald, red giant began to walk off north-north-west of the ruins. Kagami only sighed before following after the two as M began to share one of his thousands of stories. For some reason, Kagami had the feeling someone was going to get hurt, most likely herself.

**45 minutes later near the location near Agatha's House**

"And so, I bashed his 'ead in with a fucking tire iron." M said with hearty laugh as the trio walked through a small ravine and up the side of a hill. They stopped next to a bridge that lead back over the ravine and lead into a crack in the cliff face.

"You did that just because he hit on your girlfriend?" Kagami asked with raised eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips. She had learned that in the last 45 minutes she had been traveling with M was that this man was borderline insane, had some slight anger management problems, and had almost masochistic attitude towards combat.

M laughed again as he grinned widely and nodded. "Hells yeah! If you had met her, you would have done the same thing to the man." M said as he began to make his way over the rickety bridge.

Konata was just a few steps behind M with Kagami only a few steps behind her. "So what was her name?" Konata asked with a cat-like smile. Kagami glared at the back of her cobalt blue haired wife's bluntness.

M scratched his chin as he thought about it for a few moments. When he stepped off the bridge with Konata and Kagami, the giant finally said, "If I 'member right, her name's Nanako Kuroi. A beautiful blonde head. She didn't have much in the chest, but she had one hell o' an ass though. I should check in on her. Haven' seen her since my younges' daughta was born." The path that lead back into the cliff face was blocked by a wall of electrical energy that emanated from metal spikes built into the rocks.

Kagami and Konata's eyes widened at this fact, the fact M had once went out with their most hated enemy not the ass comment. "Kuroi? Nanako Kuroi?" Kagami said with a sharp intake of breath as she watched as M moved over to an intercom that was built into the rock wall next to the electrical wall.

"Yep, that's what I said." M said before pressing a button on the intercom and yelled, "K-Man! Its me, M! Open ta fuck up!"

After a few seconds of silence, a voice came over the intercom and said, "Hold on, M. I need to deactivate the Gauss turrets, don't need a repeat of what happened last week."

"What happened last week?" Konata asked as the electrical barrier wavered for a moment before disappearing with a small snap.

"Didn' give K-Man enough time to shut down ta turrets. Nearly blew me head clean off." M said with shrugged as they began to sneak back into the crack in the rock wall. The crack was just wide enough for Kagami and Konata to walk normally but M, because of his massive build, was forced to side step his way through the crack. After about a minute of walking, the trio cleared the path and stepped into a rather small clearing surrounded on all sides by a tall rock wall. Built into the rock wall at the back of the clearing was small house. In front of the house was a pair of Mark VIII Automated Turrets mounted with what looked like a Gauss Rifle jury-rigged to it instead of the normal laser armament. Crouching down next to one of the turrets was a man about Kagami's age and height wearing the classic tan clothing of trader. His short dirty blonde hair was covered by a tan hat and his opal colored eyes were covered by a pair of small glasses.

"You're lucky, M." The man murmured without looking from messing with the control panel of the turret. "I had just finished deactivating these things." He added before brushing his hands off on his jacket, standing up, and looking at his giant friend. Raising an eyebrow, he looked at the two women standing that were standing on either side of M. "Ummmm...hello." He said with a small wave.

Kagami was the first to react as she walked up to the man. "I'm Kagami Izumi." The lilac haired woman said with a small smile as she held out her hand to the man.

The man blinked for a moment before gently grabbing Kagami's hand and shaking it. "My name is Kail Okame." He said returning the small smile.

"Nice to meet you, Kail-kun." Konata said as she stepped up and extended her own hand out to Kail. "I'm Konata Izumi, Kagami's wife." She said with a small smile as Kail shook her head.

"Really?" Kail asked as he looked at the two them then at M, who just shrugged. Kail only smiled as he looked at the couple. "Well, alright."

"You understood what we meant by that? We had to spell that out to M-san just to make sure he got it." Kagami said with a surprised tone as Kail opened up the door to the house to allow everyone inside.

Kail chuckled lightly at the comment, unsure whether its praise to him or a stick at M. "Well, that's because M is about as smart as a waffle iron." He said with a small smile as he followed Konata and Kagami inside his small home.

"Hey!" M exclaimed loudly as he had to duck under the top edge of the door in order to enter the house. "I'm smarta then a fucking waffle iron!" He added angrily before closing the door behind him.


	3. The Return

My normal disclaimer about the usual stuff. I would also like to thank Tastychainsaws for mentioning in the second chapter of Sigma that everything in my story is canon. I'm going to be doing my best throughout this entire thing to keep as canon with his own story as bloody possible. So now, on to the story.

**October 23rd, 2283. Time: Midnight**

Nanako Kuroi's green eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing two people watching her. A rather tall man with cobalt blue hair and emerald green eyes slowly walked over to the right side of the pod Kuroi was lying inside of. "Hello there, Nanako Kuroi." He said softly as he took a step closer to the pod. "How are you fe-" The man didn't even finish his sentence as Kuroi's right leg shot out and planted her foot deep into the man's crotch. The man grunted loudly before he collapsed to the ground in a groaning heap. The other person flinched at the sudden assault but didn't move to help her partner.

With a loud yawn, Kuroi stepped out of the pod and over the fallen man. "I've got a couple of questions." Kuroi murmured as stretched her arms widely before scratching the back of her head. The female with short blonde hair and bright golden eyes just nodded while just groaned his response. "Who are you people and has any saved over my Mass Effect 2 file?" Kuroi asked before yawning again and stretching widely.

"Well, Miss Kuroi. I'm Kou Yasaka." The woman said with a small bow to the older woman. She then motioned to the blunette man that was just starting to get back up and said, "And his it simply known as W."

"And as for your Mass Effect 2 file. We would have no idea what happened to any of your video game saves or any of your possessions because we are not a part of The Enclave." W said roughly after he stood back up.

Nanako gazed at the man rather lazily, surprised that he had recovered so fast from the attack to his groin. "So, if you two aren't with the Enclave, then who do you work for and why are you two wearing the uniforms of an Enclave officer?" She asked as crossed her arms over her bare chest.

Kou almost seemed to be physically uncomfortable by the fact that Nanako was completely naked, but W on the hand seemed quite comfortable, despite the fact Kuroi had brutally assaulted his pride. "We work for no one other than ourselves and each other," W said with a smug smirk as he slowly began to walk over to the automatic door that led out into the corridor, "and we wear these uniforms because we find them rather comfortable and they are quite functional in combat situations

"Now, Kou. Would you mind helping Miss Kuroi getting dried off and dressed? I have some doubts that her co-ordination is actually damaged considering how Subject One-MI was after being reborn, but you can never be too sure." W asked with a classical as he looked over at Kou. The golden-eyed woman looked nervously over at the newly reborn ex-colonel, then back at her cobalt blue haired partner before nodding. Giving a small nod himself, W bowed slightly and said, "Well then, I now bid you ladies adieu. I have some other business to attend to." Smirking lightly, W placed his hand on the automatic door and stepped out into the corridor when the door opened. When the door closed behind W, Nanako looked over at Kou with a sly smirk on her face.

**1 Hour 43 minutes Later**

W hummed lightly to himself as he walked back to the room where he had left Nanako and Kou in. A white pre-war hat and a pair of black shades now completed his normal attire of a pure white trench coat over a tan military uniform. The blunette man continued to hum lightly before he noticed that Kou was standing outside the door to the room he had left her in with Kuroi. "Kou?" He asked his partner as he stopped in front of her. "Is there something wrong?"

Kou stared at the ground for a moment before looking up at the sound of her companion's voice. At this point, W noticed that Kou's normally bright golden eyes were slightly bloodshot, small trails marked her cheeks were tears had travelled, and her clothes seemed to out of order as if someone had been messing with them. Giving a small shake of her head, Kou stepped aside so that W could get back inside of the room. The blunette man watched her for a moment, worried why his companion was crying, before he gave a small nod, placed his hand on the door, and stepped into the repurposed med lab. Before the door shut behind him, W could've sworn he heard that she had given a small sob.

Nanako Kuroi was just about completely dressed when she heard the door open up behind her. Glancing back, he watched as W strode casually into the room wearing a white-and-gray version of her own tan Enclave uniform. "So did Kou explain your current condition and what exactly happened to you?" W asked as he looked around the room a bit.

"She sure did." Nanako said as she turned her back to the odd man before she began to slip on her tan trench coat. Suddenly, she felt something pressed almost painfully against the back of her head.

When Nanako had turned her back to W, the man had pulled out a large .44 magnum revolver and pressed it against the back of her head. "Listen and listen very, very carefully." She heard W hiss angrily. "If you ever dare touch Kou again, I will not hesitate to blow your fucking head the off your shoulders. It'd be very easy for me to just bring you back and make you my own personal fuck toy."

Nanako blinked as she listened to W threaten her. She couldn't believe that someone was talking to her like that; no one ever talked to her like that. Well, except her ex-boyfriend, but that was only if she asked him or if they were having a fight, which was quite a common occurrence. She could just barely remember one of the worst fights that they had ever had, which was over which end of a chocolate cornet was the head. Needless to say, 5 people were killed in the crossfire with another 20 being horribly injured. Shortly, after that fight he had disappeared leaving behind nothing but a note saying that he couldn't stand being with her anymore.

"Now, we have some business to attend to. So, follow me and keep your hands to yourself." W said before he pulled the Magnum away from Nanako's head and placed it back in its holster inside his trench coat. Nanako shot a death glare at the back of W's head as he walked towards the automatic door. She had half-the-mind to just kill him right here and now, but until she found out what these people were up to, she'd have hold off for now. Quickly, the ex-colonel put finished putting on her tan trench coat and checked her 14mm pistol, finding only a single round in the clip, before she followed W out into the corridor where Kou was waiting for them.

The three of them headed down the hallway in excruciatingly strained silence. Kou walked next to her companion, trying her best not to look at either W or Kuroi. Kuroi followed behind several feet behind them, watching the two very carefully. After a few minutes of walking in silence, W pushed open a pair of large metal doors. Nanako could've sworn that the room looked almost identical to the science lab at Raven Rock, only the stasis tube in the middle of the room had been replaced by a large platform with a railing surrounding half of the platform and a dull orange light glowed up from the floor of the platform.

"Ummmm..." Nanako murmured as she pointed at the platform while W stepped up on to it. "W...what is that thing?" She asked while Kou head over to a computer terminal next to the glowing platform.

W just raised an eyebrow as he watched Kuroi reluctantly got up on the platform and stood next to him. "Oh, this is nothing more than some old pre-war tech that I found while wondering the wastes." W said nonchalantly as he smiled and motioned towards the platform.

"Now Kou." The blunette man began as he turned his attention to the blonde-haired girl, who was typing away at the terminal she was seated in front of. "Try and put in the right co-ordinates this time. It'd be a serious inconvenience to end up on top of the Washington Monument again."

"Wait...what?" Nanako asked with a deeply confused look as she looked at W with a raised eyebrow. "What exactly is this thing going to fucking do?"

W smirked widely and glanced at Kuroi out of the corner of his gaze before he said, "This." The dull orange light slowly began to glow brighter and brighter. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of orange light.

**The Death of a Family**

As the bright orange light began to dissipate, it was revealed that Kuroi and W were now standing in the Meresti Train yard. W did a quick check to make sure that he was entirely there. During his trial testing of The Platform, subjects that were sent through didn't always come back with all of their limbs attached. With a relieved sigh, he resituated his white fedora and his shades. Suddenly, the sound of someone retching came to his ears. Looking back behind him, W noticed that Kuroi was doubled over, vomiting up the meager amount of food that was in the cloning lab. "Yeah, that tends to happen the first few times your atoms are disassembled and reassembled in another location." The blunette man said with a smirk.

Nanako shot W a deadly glare before vomiting again. "What...what the hell just happened?" She asked as she wiped her mouth off on the sleeve of her trench coat. W only chuckled as he began to walk towards a door that led down towards Meresti Station.

"Like I said, your atoms were disassembled and reassembled in another location. We probably want to get you checked out after my business here to make sure none of your organs are in the wrong place." W explained as he opened up the door for Kuroi, allowing her to walk into the dark tunnel. "That reminds me of a story. During our first testing of The Platform, he teleported a Brahmin just across the base. Long story short, the Brahmin reappeared inside out." He said with a light chuckle as he closed the door behind him.

Nanako's eyes went wide at the story as her eyes began to slowly adjust to the darkness. "You sent me through a machine that could've killed me?" She yelled, her left eye twitching slight out of anger.

W just sighed and began to head down the tunnel with Nanako close behind him. "Oh don't worry; I'm fairly sure that all the kinks have been worked out. The only thing you got to worry about is messed up co-ordinates, though Kou is getting better at setting the right co-ordinates." W said with a smirk as he looked back at Kuroi through the darkness.

Nanako only sighed at W's nonchalantness about the whole teleporting thing as the blunette man lead them down deeper into the dark tunnel. After rounding several large piles of debris that blocked half the tunnel, the two came upon a waist high wall of sand bags dimly lit by a light hanging above. "Alright." A middle-aged man wearing combat armor said as he stood up from his seat behind the wall of sandbags. "That's close e-" The man didn't even finish his sentence as W whipped out his revolver and buried a high caliber round between the man's eyes with pin-point precision. Humming lightly to himself, W walked around the sandbags and over the dead man with Kuroi close behind.

As they headed down a very short side tunnel—which had been repurposed by the man W had just killed into a makeshift room—a nearby door could be heard opening before a female voice said, "Robert? Is everything okay? We heard gunshots." W pressed himself against the left side of the wall of the short side tunnel. Lifting his revolver, he pressed it against the forehead of a red-headed woman wearing a Merc Charmer uniform as she rounded the corner and was about enter the side tunnel.

"Hello there. Would you mind telling me something, miss?" W asked with a wide smirk as the woman looked back at him, wide-eyed and horrified. "Is the entire Family here?" The woman was unsure whether or not she should answer this man. But after a few tense moments, she gave a small nod of her head. "Good. Though, I'm sorry to say that your usefulness has expired." W said as his smirk widened a bit at the good news. Suddenly, he pulled the trigger on his powerful revolver, causing the woman's head to explode violently from the force of the bullet and closeness of the gun.

"Now Kuroi, I want you to stay out here like a good girl while I go inside and check out a few things. Only come inside if it sounds like I could use some help, alright?" The blunette man said as he cleaned the gore off of his gun. Before Kuroi could say anything, W headed through the door that the red-headed woman had came through and closed it behind him.

Slowly, the blunette began to make his way up the sloping tunnel that fed into Meresti Station. W quickly replaced the two rounds he had spent on the two people he killed back in the side tunnel. For the first time in 206 years to the very day, he was going to be let go and go completely out on these...mutants. He always had to restrain himself so that he didn't hurt people too badly, especially when he would train and spar with Kou. Silently, W strode into Meresti Station with an demented smirk playing across his lips.

With a split second flick of his shaded eyes, W saw just about everything in view of the old train-station-turned-settlement. Most of the Family members were scattered around the station doing random little thing. The only people that weren't on the first floor were Minami—the reason he was there in the first place—, Yutaka—Minami's favorite from what he read of the file he got off of the Enclave mainframe—, and a woman by the name of Celia, which would explain the light strumming of a guitar emanating for the second floor of the settlement he could hear. "Hey, who are you?" W glanced over to see a rather young looking man approaching him from his left. W let out a small chuckle and shook his head before lifting his favorite armament and firing.

The blunette man didn't wait for any of the other Family members to respond or for even the young man's body to hit the floor before W opened fire. In less than a minute, all but the three missing members of the Family were dead. W looked around at the carnage he had created and frowned a bit. For some reason, it felt like it wasn't enough, that he needed to unleash even more carnage.

Sighing, W ascended the long since halted escalator with a small frown crossing his lips. "You will pay for what you've done!" He heard a female voice scream as he topped the escalator. Quickly, W raised his right arm to block a blow from a woman wearing a slightly faded black thigh-length dress wielding a guitar. His smirk reappeared on his lips as he blocked another attack from the woman. Suddenly, W twist around a third attack and landed a powerful kick to the woman's stomach. The force of the blow sent her flying back into a make-shift wall, causing it to collapse on top of her. Humming to himself, W grabbed a large chunk of the wall and threw it aside, revealing the woman to him. "You must be Celia Brown?" W inquired as he stepped down on the woman's chest.

"What's it to you?" The brunette growled up at W as she gripped his leg and tried to force him off of her.

W only chuckled at her pathetic attempt before he pressed his booted foot down on her chest harder, causing her to take sharp intake of air as a rib broke. "I was only asking a question." He asked.

"Yes, my name...is Celia Brown. Now, what's yours?" She said as a small trail of blood came from the right side of her mouth.

Smirking, W pointed his Magnum at Celia's head. "W is what everyone calls me. Now...may Hule watch over you, Celia." W said, reciting the small death prayer of The Hollegeboren, before he pulled the trigger and ended Celia's life.

W stared at Celia for a moment before looked up and to the side when he heard the light sound of a sword of being pulled free of a fiberglass sheath. Minami standing in the archway of a ramp that lead up to the room she shared with Yutaka, _Vampire's Edge_ clutched in her hand tightly. "Ahh...Miss Iwasaki. It's good to see that you are doing so well. And I really must thank you for getting the Family back together; it saves me the trouble of having to hunt everyone down individually." He said as he threw aside his spent revolver and he stepped off of Celia's chest.

Minami glared at W as she tightened the grip on her katana. This man was openly mocking her about killing her friends after having just done the deed moments previous. "What are you doing here?" She asked harshly.

W chuckled a bit before he crossed his arms behind his back. "I came here to ask you a few questions." He said with a wide smirk. Minami just glared at him before he continued on, "You wouldn't happen to know where Subject Zero-GA is would you?"

"What does it matter to you?" She asked with a deep frown. Her eyes briefly shifted to Celia before looking back at the psychotic blunette man.

"Hmhmhm...He asked you to look after the boy didn't He?" W asked with a light chuckle as a cobalt blue eyebrow rose above the edge of his eyebrows.

Minami waited several moments, just staring at W before she finally said, "I have no idea what you are talking about. Now, I would very much like you to leave. I have friends to bury."

Suddenly, W's face contorted in anger at this statement. "Now, Iwasaki-san, I brought you back from death and I can easily send you right back to whatever hell you were burning in. You will comply with my questions or there will be consequences." He hissed angrily as he took several steps forward.

Minami quickly raised _Vampire's Edge_ as she shifted into a battle stance. "You will have to kill me first before I tell you anything." She spoke just as harshly as W spoke to her.

"Oh, I was hoping for you say that." W said, grinning widely at the words. With the speed of striking cobra, W shot forward with his left arm pulled back for a punch. Minami quickly rolled out of the way of the blow, quickly looking back to see the section of wall that W's attack hit explode into dust and concrete fragments. Minami quickly got back up and aimed a slash at W's midsection, though he quickly moved out of the way.

As their battle continued, W dodged or parried just about every slash and jab Minami made. Growling lightly, she made an upward slash with her sword, but missed W by barely an inch. Suddenly, Minami reversed her grip and thrusted down with the blade, cutting through the heavy trench and planting the blade in the floor coat but largely missed the blunette man. "Well, that was an interesting attack. You actually managed to get a hit in." W said as he took several steps back and threw off his trench coat, revealing he was wearing a suit three-piece suit underneath.

Minami only glared darkly at the man as she quickly got back to her feet and pulled Vampire's Edge out of the floor. W only chuckled lightly as he waited for the ex-Sigma to get back on her feet and pull her weapon out of the ground. "It wasn't very smart not to kill me when you had a chance."

"And let the fun end so soon?" W said with another chuckle as he watched the mint-green haired woman. And with those words, he lunged forward again with his right fist pulled back again for another punch. This time Minami didn't move out of the way, she quickly crouched down and thrust her katana forward. Turning quickly in mid-air, W narrowly missed being impaled and just barely hit Minami in the shoulder. The blow however still had enough power behind it that Minami was sent sprawling several feet back despite just barely hitting her.

The two warriors quickly got back to their feet. "Again, that was a risky move, but you almost got me that time." W chuckled lightly as slowly strode forwards towards Minami. Minami took a step back before glancing behind her, noticing that the edge of the balcony was right behind her. With a small sigh to calm herself, she suddenly took a step forward and made a slash at her attackers gut. Much to her surprise, W caught the blade mid-swing. Grinning madly, W yanked the sword back and punched Minami the face. She let out a small grunt, releasing her grip on the handle of Vampire's Edge and stumbling back against the waist-high that surrounded a good part of the balcony. With demented laughter, W quickly twisted and kicked Minami off the balcony, causing to her fall to the ground and crash through one of the long tables down below with a resounding boom.

Minami blinked several as she looked around from her current position. Her head was ringing loudly and felt like someone just bashed her brains out with a Super Sledge. Looking over to her right hand side, she noticed a large jagged piece of wood piercing her shoulder, which would explain why she could move the fingers. Slowly, Minami looked back to where she once was and noticed W was standing on the railing with a wicked smirk on his face before jumped off and landed several feet in front of her with a loud thud. Minami tried to get back up but was quickly stopped when W kicked in her right knee, causing it to shatter like glass. Minami gritted her teeth as fell back on the ruined table, feeling multiple smaller wooden shards pierce the skin on her back.

"Now, Iwasaki, I've been having a fairly good day today." W said as he took a handful of The Family's Leader's mint green hair and lift he up enough so he didn't have to bend over that far to stare into her light blue eyes. "So, despite your actions, I'm willing to give you a little leeway under the condition you tell me the boy's location and you tell me now." Minami could barely see through the dark shades that covered W's eyes, but she could see through them enough to see his emerald green eyes burning with insanity.

"Go fuck yourself." She said tersely before Minami spat in W's face.

The blunette man released Minami before he wiped the spit from his face. Without another word, He grabbed Minami's right arm by the wrist and raised it up in the air. With a smirk, He swung _Vampire's Edge_ and severed the mint-green haired woman's arm at the elbow. Minami gritted her teeth, refusing to scream for this madman, as she felt her right arm be severed at the elbow. "Hm, people normally scream when their arm is cut off, especially at the elbow." W mused curiously before throwing aside her arm.

"Like...I keep on...saying, fuck you." Minami hissed through her teeth as she again tried to get back up. Sighing at the fruitless attempt, W stepped on her flat chest and pushed her back down to the ground.

"You are making it very hard for to not just outright kill you. Now, I'm being very generous by not doing that because I need the boy's location if my plans are to move forward." W explained in a very gentle way as he gently gripped the sides of Minami's face and leaned in close. "So, tell me where he is or I'm going to take off another limb."

The only answer that Minami gave was nothing more than a death glare at the blunette man. Sighing, W stepped off of her chest and onto her right thigh before rising Minami's katana. Luckily, at least for W, _Vampire's Edge_'s blade was long enough that he could easily cut off the Ex-Sigma soldier's leg at the knee. Suddenly, the click of an empty gun echoed through Meresti Station. Both Minami and W looked over at the source of the sound. Standing at the bottom of the left hand set of escalators was Yutaka with W's empty .44 Magnum clutched in her shaking hands.

Minami eyes shifted from the scared dark-pink haired girl to W, noticing a grin slowly growing on his lips. "Yutaka! _Run_!" Minami yelled before W rammed Vampire's Edge into her left hand all the way to the hilt. Yutaka gave a small squeak before she dropped the empty gun but didn't even make it a quarter of the way up the escalator before W was on her. The blunette man grabbed the back of Yutaka's shirt and threw her back down to the floor. Minami watched helplessly as W slowly walked over to Yutaka, punched her down to the ground when she began to get back up, and then proceed to relentlessly punch the small girl.

After a several punches, most of which were straight to the head, W stepped on the back the small girl's calves before grabbing a handful of her dark pink hair, pulling her painfully up, and revealing her bruised and bloodied face to Minami. "I'm gonna take a wild guess that you know something, hm? Why don't you tell me where the boy is and I'll just leave." He asked Yutaka as he reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out a small flick knife.

Yutaka looked at W out of the corner of her sight, before she murmured, "Minami didn't tell you thing and neither am I."

With a rough sigh, W pressed the tip of the knife into the outer edge of Yutaka's mouth and slowly pulled the blade across her cheek until it reached her ear. The dark-pink haired young woman shut her eyes tight and gritted her teeth, trying not to scream out in pain for the mad man. "Minami, tell me something." W began as he shoved the pocket knife into Yutaka's shoulder, eliciting a small squeak from the girl. "How painful do you think it is to be disemboweled by a Ripper?" The Hollegeboren reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a Ripper.

Minami's eyes went wide at the sight of the Ripper. "Wait, I'll tell you where the boy is. But you must promise to not hurt Yutaka." The mint haired girl said as she tried fruitlessly to get up.

W laughed madly at Minami's attempts to get up and to bargain for her friend's life."You know what, no deal, Iwasaki. You have effectively pissed me off with your multiple indiscretions. Now I think I'm going to jam this Ripper into little Yutaka's gut. It'd probably cause much more damage that way and odds are...she'll live through the entire experience in horrible, horrible agony." W said with a thoroughly demented grin as he slowly as he revved the Ripper a couple of times before he began to lower it towards Yutaka's stomach. Minami yelled for W to stop while Yutaka just closed her eyes and let out a small whimper before the sound of someone loudly cocking a gun could be heard over the whirring teeth of the Ripper. All three of them looked up to see Kuroi standing in the mouth of slopping tunnel with her 14mm pistol pointed at W's head.

"Oh, Kuroi. It's you." W said as he looked at the Ex-Colonel, not realizing exactly where she was aiming her weapon. "It's good you're here, you can watch how an execu-"

"Shut the fuck up, you asshole. No one talks to me the way fucking did." Nanako growled angrily before she pulled the trigger on her gun, causing W's head to explode violently as an explosive round hit it.

**Just a bit ago, up the hill from Meresti Train Yard**

_I sighed roughly as I stared down at the papers on my large wooden desk. My elbows rest on the desk as I held my hands in my hands. A lot of Chinese spies had been found as of late, infiltrating even the CIA. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that something really, really bad was going to happen very soon. I glanced at the small digital clock on my desk, noticing that it showed just before 11 am on October 23rd, 2077. Suddenly, the sound of loud gunshot followed by something rather heavy collapsing to the ground could be heard outside the door to Oval Office. I continued to stare down at the papers as I heard the door open and close, I didn't have to look up to know who it was. "Having trouble running the country, Mr. President?" A rather smug voice said._

_Sighing, I looked up to see a man in a white 3-piece suit standing before my desk with a large .44 Magnum Revolver pointed at my head. The man's cobalt blue hair was covered by a white fedora and his emerald green eyes were covered by a pair of dark shades. "Hello Walter. It's good to see you." I said to the man. "I'm guessing you killed Minerva then?"_

_Walter just shrugged before he pulled back the hammer on his powerful handgun. "You should've known that not even my own sister would've have been enough to stop me. How did you find out that I was coming to pay you a visit, Mr. President?" The man asked as he looked at me._

_"The Old Man called me a week ago. Told me what you were planning to do." I said as I leaned back into my chair. "I'm guessing that you've secured a place for your family?"_

_Walter chuckled lightly before saying, "I've placed them in Vault 13. My brother and younger sister are staying back at the house in Oregon. I suppose you did the same with your own family?"_

_I only nodded to his question before sighing and closing my eyes. "I have no regrets. Go ahead." I murmured lightly as I waited for the obvious to happen._

_"Then there is one last thing to say." I heard Walter say, "May Hule watch over you, President Aaronson." The last thing I heard was click of him pulling the trigger on his revolver._

Kail woke up at the end of the terrible dream and looked around his quiet home. There wasn't all that much to the house, basically just the main room which held his workbench, some boxes that he stored supplies in, a cot, and two mattresses. A small kitchen connected to the side of the room that had been dug back into the rock wall that surrounds his home. A metal door was in the back of the kitchen that led into Kail's storeroom. He had given Konata and Kagami his cot to sleep on while M and himself took the mattresses on the floor.

Suddenly, a slight buzzing filled the air, causing Kail to look at a small ham radio on a nearby table. "Kail? Kail are you there?" A weak female voice said over the radio before it was followed by slight static.

Kail yawned and stretched before he grabbed his glasses and putting them back in. Slowly, he made his way over to the ham radio, having to step over a sprawled out M. He grabbed the mic, pressed the button on the side of it, and said quietly so he didn't wake up the others. "This is Kail. What is Yutaka? Over."

"Kail...I-I think something is going on. There were some gunshots and Minami just left to check on it." A rather scared sounding Yutaka said over the radio.

Nearby, Kail could hear Konata move restlessly in her sleep. Waiting a second to make sure she wasn't waking, Kail said, "Yutaka-chan, don't worry about it. Odds are its just some Talons causing some trouble."

"Yeah, I know. But still what if it's som-" Yutaka began before the sound of a female yelp and something crashing from a great height could be heard statically over the ham radio. "_Minami_!" Yutaka yelled before she cut off the line.

"Yutaka? Yutaka!" Kail said into the mic before let out a rough sigh before he threw it aside and cursed loudly.

Looking up, he noticed Konata sitting up in the cot, looking at him curiously. "What was that, K-man?" She asked sleepily before yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"It's nothing, Miss Konata. Just...just go back to sleep." Kail murmured as he began to make his way over to his door. He lightly tripped over M, causing the giant bald man to awake a bit and take a barely attempted swipe at Kail. Before he headed out the door, Kail grabbed his jacket and just slipped it on without zipping it up and grabbed a silenced and scoped variant of the R91 assault rifle that was sitting next to the door.

M slowly sat up just as Kail ran out the door to help out Yutaka and Minami. "Where da hell is K-man goin'?" The massive man murmured lightly before yawning loudly.

Konata only shrugged before she turned to her waifu and shook her gently. "Kagamin...Kagamin, wake up." The blunette said before shaking Kagami again.

Kagami lazily waved off Konata before murmuring, "Konata...no. I'm trying to sleep...Maybe later." Konata giggled at Kagami's sleepy rambling.

"Y'Oh! Miss Kagami! Somet'in' goin' down and K-Man just left ta go check it out!" M said loudly as he slowly got up and stretched his back. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor was killer on his back. M felt like he did after one of his wild romps with his ex-girlfriend.

Kagami let a low groan as she sat up and glared at M and Konata for disturbing her sleep. "What?" She said roughly as she began to put her hair up into her classic twin pig tails. M talked so sloppily sometimes that she could barely even understand him half the time.

"K-Man was talkin' ta some chick named...Yutaka I think and there was screamin' and whatnot and he just left ta go check it out." M explained as he watched Kagami. The massive man grabbed his pitch black duster and threw it on before he grabbed his Super Sledge and placed it in its sheath on his back.

"And we're going after him." Konata said with a cat-like smirk. She quickly slipped on her boots before grabbing her Gauss rifle. Kail had fixed shortly before they had all went to sleep, saying something about who easy it was for the Chinese model Gauss Rifles to jam and the German models were more durable but weren't as powerful as the Chinese models.

Kagami just sighed as she got up and put on her own boots before grabbing her plasma rifle. Kail had done a once over of Kagami's plasma rifle after he was done with Konata's Gauss rifle to make sure the energy weapon was in peak working order. While he was doing minor work on the discharge chamber, Kail explained how the Enclave plasma rifle was basically a cheaper-to-mass-produce version of the Winchester P94 Military Plasma Rifle. It wasn't anything that Kagami had already known, but Kail's knowledge of how to effectively repair the plasma rifle and the Gauss rifle was quite amazing. When she looked up from lacing up her boots, Kagami noticed that M and Konata were already gone

The lilac haired woman quickly chased after her wife and the giant man, catching up with them on the other side of the small rope bridge. The three of them quickly followed after the trail they believed Kail followed through a small grove of burnt trees until they came upon the edge of a cliff face that over looked the Meresti Train yard. "Holy Damacles! That kid's some kinda ninja!" M said as they noticed Kail dash behind some rusted train parts.

Kagami looked down at the Meresti Train yard then up and down the cliff face, looking for a possible way down. "It's at least a hundred feet down, there's no we'd survive that fall with breaking a leg or two." She said as the lilac haired woman looked up at the giant man next to her.

"Yeah, maybe for you two." M said with a wicked grin. Without another word, he reached down and wrapped an arm around Konata's and Kagami's waists before he launched himself of the cliff. Kagami screamed in horror while Konata laughed at the experience. A split second later, M landed on the ground below with a loud grunt and resounding boom. M let out a hearty laugh as he set the two girls down.

"That...was...awesome! Can we do it again?" Konata asked enthusiastically as she looked up at M, who just gave another hearty laugh as he patted Konata on the back. Kagami was scared mostly by the express suddenness of the event. Kagami and Konata had been a lot since leaving Vault 101 just around 6 years ago but having a massive man carrying her under arm and then jumping off a 10 story cliff was something they hadn't gone through yet.

"Maybe lata, Miss Konata." M said with a light chuckle as he looked down at the small girl. "For some reason, ya remind me of an ol' friend of mine. Though, she's been dead for..." M said as he scratched his chin for a moment or two. "25 years-ish. Somet'in' like that."

Konata blinked as she looked up at M with a curious look on her face. "Really? What was her name?"

"Hmm…can't rememba." M murmured as he light punched himself in the side of head a few times.

"Alright, alright! Let's just go find Kail and figure out what's going on." Kagami said harshly, getting extremely tired from the situation. Konata and M both nodded before the three of them headed off in the direction that they had last saw Kail heading. After a few minutes, they found the door that lead into the tunnels before Meresti Station wide open. Konata and Kagami went in first while M waited for a moment before following the two girls inside and closing the door behind himself.


	4. Hell Hath No Fury

Hello there readers. I'm really sorry that it took me such a long time to get this chapter out (three weeks if I'm right). I've been extremely busy with school and everything, and after Tastychainsaw's feelings about the last chapter, I wanted to make this one better quality. So, Anyways, on to the story!

**October 23rd, 2283, 2:04 AM**

W's head exploded violently from the explosive round, spraying poor Yutaka with bits of bone and grey matter. W's headless corpse released Yutaka and stumbled back jerkingly several feet before it finally collapsed to the ground in a bloody mess Yutaka stared blankly at the broken Minami, opening her to say something but fell forward and quickly drifted off into a state of unconsciousness instead. The multiple concussive blows to the head Yutaka received from W and the shock of W's head exploding above her own proved too much for the small girl to handle.

Minami didn't notice Yutaka collapse; she was instead watching Kuroi made her way over to Minami. "He brought you back also?" Minami said, more stating an obvious fact then asking a question.

Nanako gave a small as she kneeled down next to Minami. "So...what did you do to piss him off so badly?" The blonde-haired woman asked before she grasped the handle of Vampire's Edge and pulled the blade out of its master's hand. With a small sigh, Kuroi placed the blade down next to Minami before looking back at her.

The mint-green haired woman gave a small wince and made no other sound beyond a sharp intake of breath as the katana was pulled out of her hand. She lifted her hand and looked at the hole where the katana had pierced. W had almost split her hand in half when he jammed Vampire's Edge into her hand. "Nothing that concerns you." Minami said rather tersely as she tried to get up. But the dizziness from blood loss over took her and she fell back into the remains of the broken table.

"Well, considering that I was brought back from death also, I think it kinda does concern me." Nanako snapped back as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.

Minami watched Kuroi with a careful eye as the blonde woman stood up. She still didn't trust her once-friend and it was doubtful that anyone ever would trust Kuroi again, not after the shit she did all those years ago. After several seconds of silence, Minami sighed and she opened her mouth to say something when a three-round burst of suppressed automatic fire passed right in front of Nanako's face.

The Ex-Colonel quickly grabbed her custom 14mm pistol and pointed it at the source of the weapons fire: A young man with dirty blonde hair standing in the archway of the sloping tunnel that fed into Meresti Station. The man was wielding a scoped, silenced R91 Assault Rifle, which was firmly trained on Nanako's blonde head. The classic clothing of a trader or a scavenger clothed the young man's body. A pair of oval glasses covered his opal-green eyes. "That was only a warning shot. Now, Step away from Minami-nee-san. I do not wish to hurt you if you did not do this." The young man said coldly as he watched Kuroi careful.

Kuroi smirked as she looked at the boy. Her finger was ready to pull the trigger and blow this kid away but was stopped when she heard Minami whisper, "Don't, he's harmless. Just back away slowly." Nanako glanced at Minami out of the corner of her gaze but kept her focus on the young man. Sighing, she holstered her weapon inside her trench coat before took several steps back from Minami. "Kail, get over here." Minami said as she looked over her right shoulder back at Kail. But the table behind her and the jagged piece of wood that pierced her right shoulder blocked out most of her view of the boy.

Kail kept his assault rifle trained on Kuroi's head as he slowly made his way over to Minami. Quickly, he placed his rifle into a holster sewed into the back of his jacket and crouched down next to the crippled woman. "Are you doing okay?" Kail asked rhetorically as he briefly examined Minami's body. He was definitely surprised that she hadn't passed out from blood loss yet from the all too obvious injury to her right arm.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Minami murmured as she looked back at the worried boy. Dizziness was slowly beginning to affect as blood loss and the smell of blood was starting to affect her. It had been a few days since she had last fed. "Go check on Yutaka. The man that attacked us put her through quite a bit."

"But-" Kail was about to protest the order but was cut off by stern look from Minami. After a moment, Kail gave a small nod before standing up and reaching inside one of the dozens of pockets that covered his jacket. Pulling out 3 stimpacks, he turned and handed them to Nanako and said, "Make sure to take out that piece of wood first before injecting these into her. The stims won't heal Minami-nee-san completely if you don't."

"I know how to use a stims!" Kuroi growled harshly before taking the stimpacks from Kail.

Kail blinked at the sudden harshness but gave a small nod nonetheless before quickly made his way over to Yutaka. Kuroi briefly watched the boy before turning her attention back to Minami. Without a single word, she walked back over to Minami, crouched down next to her, took a hold of the wooden spike sticking out of Minami's shoulder, and with a small grunt, pulled the spike out of the mint-green haired woman's shoulder. Minami let a loud yelp causing Kail to glance over briefly before going back to examining Yutaka to make sure the dark pink haired girl was alright. "You could've warned me first!" Minami hissed under her breath as she glared at Kuroi.

"Aw, where's the fun in that?" The Ex-Colonel asked with a wide grin before throwing the wooden spike down the sloping tunnel. "Now let's get these stims in you before you bleed out." Kuroi said with an uncharacteristically friendly smile. Suddenly, she jammed the three stimpacks into Minami's thigh and injected the medicine they contained into Minami's circulatory system. Nanako blinked and her mouth fell open as she watched as the destroyed muscle tone in Minami's right shoulder rebuild itself and wound heal itself. Her gaze shifted to where Minami's right arm had once been, noticing the wound suddenly heal over in the same fashion as the hole in Minami's shoulder. "What the hell are those things?" Kuroi asked as she looked over at Kail.

"They are a special concoction I keep up with just a bit ago." Kail said as he carried Yutaka over and set her down on the table immediately behind Minami. "Basically, it uses the same injection system as stimpacks and Med-X. You can think of it as something of a hyperdized version of stimpacks. You can have you guts blown completely out and those things will you right up like nothing ever happened." He explained with a proud smile as he looked at the astonished Nanako. "But, the bad thing is it takes a long time to produce one and I've had the time to complete three prototypes and I've only just recently completed a full version."

"Wow..." Was all the blond woman said as she looked back at Minami. Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps and a female voice scolding whoever was making the heavy footsteps. Quickly, Nanako whipped out her 14mm pistol and aimed it at the source of the sounds. Suddenly, three figures walked out of the shadows of the sloping tunnel, one of which was significantly taller than the other two. Kuroi's eyes widened as she recognized all three of the people.

**Like a Woman's Scorn**

"So, what do you think, M-san?" Konata asked as she stepped around a waist-high-compared to the blunette it was about mid-stomach-wall of sandbags. M was checking out the corpse of a man in combat with a recent bullet wound in the exact center of his forehead. Kagami headed down a side tunnel towards an off branching tunnel to check if there was anyone else.

"Well, Miss Konata." M said as he stood up from his crouching position next to the corpse and stretched his back. "Whoeva done t'is had to be one helluva a shot an' quick on ta draw also. Ta dead guy woulda seen ta otha guy first, givin' ta otha guy not long to draw, aim, an' shoot." M said as he scratched his before the two of them began to head down the side tunnel after Kagami.

"How long do you think the person had to do all that?" Konata asked curiously as she looked up at the much taller man.

M murmured something inaudible to the blunette girl as he scratched his chin again. "I'da give him...five, ten seconds max. Give or take a few secs dependin' if ta guy had 'is gun out. Meanin' he was usin' a pistol of some sort." M said as they met up with Kagami, who was crouching down next to the body of woman whose head had been blown completely off, in the off branching tunnel.

Konata gave a small nod as Kagami grabbed her plasma rifle and stood up. "Well, whoever did this could still be here and hurt Kail-kun. So let's get going." The lilac-haired tsundere grumbled tiredly as she looked at the two of them. Both M and Konata gave a nod in agreement with Kagami, though M didn't seem to care much for Kail's safety. Quickly, they moved over to a slightly ajar metal door. M took point, pushed open the door with his Super Sledge and quickly stepped out into the sloping tunnel with his weapon at the ready in case there was an ambush waiting for them.

The couple watched the Red Giant as he shifted back and forth for a moment before signaling to them that the coast was clear. Slowly, the three of them headed up the tunnel-this time Konata and Kagami with M only a few steps behind them in case they were attack from behind-towards Meresti Station. Konata and Kagami moved rather stealthily up the tunnel, but because of his massive size and possibly weight, M made a rather loud crunch with the gravel with every step. "Can you be any quieter?" Kagami hissed quietly back at M.

"Hey! You try bein' seven feet tall, four hundred pounds of solid kickass, an' stealthy all at ta same time!" M said as quietly as he possibly could, which wasn't all that quiet at all.

When they got to the end of the tunnel and entered Meresti Station, the three of them noticed four things: One, the place was littered with dead bodies, all killed in the same manner as the first two bodies. Two, Kail was examining a small girl with dark pink hair that looked like Konata's cousin Yutaka, who was lying on top of a long wooden table. Three, the long-since-dead Nanako Kuroi was standing next to the shattered remains of a table with a 14mm pistol aimed at the trio. And lastly, a woman with a mint green hair wearing a tanned duster was attempting to stand up before Kail quickly moved to her side to help her.

"Kuroi?" Both Konata and Kagami exclaimed at the sight of their dead foe as their mouths fell open and their eyes went wide. Quickly, the couple raised their weapons and pointed them at the blonde Colonel.

"Koko?" M asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at his ex-girlfriend. He was the only one out of the trio who DIDN'T know that Nanako had died close to 6 years ago.

Konata glanced back at M curiously at the name used for Nanako before she turned her attention back to the situation at hand. "Hiiragi? M?" Kuroi said as her aim faltered slightly at the sight of her ex-boyfriend.

"It's Izumi now. What the fuck are you doing alive, you crazy bitch?" Kagami hissed angrily as she flicked off the safety on her plasma rifle. She was going to make sure that Kuroi stayed dead this time. Neither Kuroi nor M heard what Kagami as the two stared intently at each other. Well, Nanako was more glaring with ever increasing anger at M than just plainly staring at him.

After several moments of intense silence, Nanako suddenly yelled, "_I'll fucking kill you, you mother-fucking asshole!_" She threw aside her 14mm pistol before lunging at the giant man.

"Oh, fuck." M murmured before he pushed Konata and Kagami roughly aside so that they wouldn't get caught in the middle of the obviously coming fight. Normally, if Nanako had tried to tackle M-which she had tried innumerable times during the 4 or so years the two were together-M wouldn't have so much budge an inch and he would've thrown her aside like a ragdoll. But, because of the fact he was standing on an unstable surface-AKA the loose gravel that lined the bottom of the tunnel that lead up into Meresti Station-Kuroi was able to set M off and send both down the sloping tunnel.

Konata and Kagami were both slightly dazed after M pushed them out of the way but quickly got back on their feet and pointed their weapons down into the sloping tunnel. The pitch blackness of the tunnel hid the fight between M and Nanako but the sounds of the fight, Kuroi's random insults, and M's even more random retorts could be heard echoing up from the tunnel. "What are you guys doing here?" They heard Kail ask from somewhere behind them. Konata and Kagami looked behind them to see Kail help the mint-green haired woman sit down on top of the table that Yutaka was lying on top of. The woman looked to be purposely trying to look away from Konata and Kagami.

"Kail, was Kuroi the one that did this?" Kagami asked rather harshly as she walked over to stand in front of the opal-eyed young man.

"That blonde woman that went after M?" Kail said, slightly shocked at the sudden harshness in Kagami's voice. "I don't think so, though you'd have to ask Minami-nee-san if you want to know who did this."

"Minami?" Konata questioned before looking at the mint-green haired woman just as she looked up at Konata. "But...how...why...deathclaws...arm...ripped apart..." The blunette stuttered as her mouth fell open at the sight of her once-dead friend. The memory of Minami becoming a feast for over a dozen Deathclaws came rushing into the front of her mind.

"I'll explain everything later. I've lost too much blood and need to get to a doctor before I lose anymore." Minami said in her normal monotone voice as she looked at Konata and Kagami.

Kagami looked back down the tunnel that M and Kuroi had went down and noticed that the sounds of fighting couldn't be heard anymore. "Who did this, Minami? Kuroi?"

The Family's Leader shook her head before she said, "No, a man that called himself 'W' did this, single-handedly. He just came in here, killed everyone, and would've killed me and Yutaka if Kuroi didn't save us." She nodded over to where W's body had fallen before adding, "That's him over there if you want to question him."

Kagami sighed before she quickly moved over to the dead man and began to look through his trench coat for some form of ID. "Kuroi seriously saved you?" Konata asked with puzzled look on her face.

"I'm just as surprised as you are, but she did. From what I've figured, she was brought back by the same man who brou-" Minami was interrupted by the sound of a sawed-off shotgun being fired twice.

Everyone looked over at the sloping tunnel to see Kuroi walk out of the shadows, panting heavily, with a smoking sawed-off shotgun clutched in her right hand. Her trench coat was tore in several places and her left arm hung limply at her side. Small cuts and bruises etched her face and her waist-length blonde hair was pulled out of its regular ponytail. "Fuck...he's hard to put down...once he gets going." She said shallowly as he walked over and leaned against the table Minami was sitting on.

"You...killed him?" Konata asked as her mouth fell open. Just yesterday, Konata and Kagami had witnessed M rip dozens of raiders apart with basically his bare hands and here, Kuroi had just killed the giant man. Kagami was quickly back on her feet with her plasma rifle aimed once again at Kuroi.

"Pfft...hahahahahahaha!" Kuroi suddenly burst into laughter at the blunette's astonishment. It took her several moments for her stop laughing before she finally notice how serious everyone was looking. "No! You obviously haven't been around M long enough to enough it's nearly impossible to kill him. I've seen him get shot, stabbed, slashed, burned, irradiated, blown up, mini-nuked, blasted, zapped, electrocuted, lit on fire, poisoned, deprived of oxygen, shot out of a cannon, smashed, and impaled. Most of which I did to him myself." She said with a light chuckle at the memories.

"An' t'at is ta reason why me motto in life is, 'neva give crazy bitches guns!'" M's booming voice yelled as the giant man stumbled out of the dark tunnel. M was obviously in much better shape than Kuroi was from the fight, though his head was bent oddly to one side and his undershirt riddled with dozens of small holes.

"So, I'm a bitch now?" Kuroi asked darkly as she flipped open the sawed-off shotgun and popped in two more shells.

"Fuck yeah ya are! You broke me neck an' shot me!" M yelled as he pointed to his neck. Placing his hands on his chin and on top of his head and giving his head a small twist, he snapped his head back into position. "Yeah, t'at feels a hell of a lot better." He murmured lightly after shaking his head.

Nanako gritted her teeth tightly as she glared at the red-skinned bald man. "You know what. Fuck you, M!" Kuroi yelled as she pointed the sawed-off shotgun at M's head. As she was about to pull the trigger, the barrel of an energy weapon was pressed against the back of her head. Behind, Kagami had her plasma rifle pressed against the back Kuroi's head with her finger ready to pull the trigger.

"Put down the gun." Kagami hissed sharply as she pressed the gun harder against the Ex-Colonel's head. Nanako glanced back at Kagami out of the corner of her eyes before raising her hands slowly. Her finger's released the handle of the gun, causing it to fall to the ground with a light clatter. Suddenly, Kuroi twist around, knocked the weapon out of Kagami with open palm strike, and kicked Kagami in the gut. The lilac-haired woman let out a small grunt as she was sent flying back by the blow to the gut.

Konata quickly brought up her Gauss rifle but could see M was already ending the problem. "Hey, what the-" Kuroi began to say as she felt a hand her on the side of her neck give a small squeeze. A split second later, her green eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"T'at problem solved. T'ough a bit anti-climatic." M said with a smirk and a shrug as he stepped over Nanako and walked over to Kagami. He grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her back to her feet. "Ya okay, Miss Kagami?" M asked with a small smile. Kagami gave a small nod before she went and retrieved her plasma rifle.

She glanced over at the unconscious Nanako and frowned deeply as she glared at the woman. Kagami moved over to Kuroi with her plasma rifle raised in a way that made it seem she was about to bash in Kuroi's skull. Before she could commit the deed, something stopped her in mid-swing. Looking back, the lilac-haired woman saw M grabbing a hold of the Plasma rifle's barrel. "Ya do t'at and ya're no better t'an Koko." He said with a small smile before releasing the gun and moving around Kagami. Kagami watched M with a dark glare as the giant man grabbed the sawed off shotgun and placed it inside his duster then turned his attention to Nanako and threw the unconscious woman over his right shoulder.

Konata was, meanwhile, watching as Kail bandaged up Minami's leg, which was fucked up seven ways to Sunday, no thanks to W. "So, do you have any idea why this 'W' person did thing, Minami?" The blunette asked curiously as Kail finished and stood up, stretching his back slightly. She was still curious as to why Minami had come back from the dead, especially after the death she had received.

"I have no idea. He was probably just some hired gun or something." Minami lied in her normal flat, monotone voice. She knew the exact reason for why W had attacked her and Yutaka. She glanced at Kail out of the corner of her gaze, noticing the young man pick up Vampire's Edge and placed it back into its sheath.

"A highly 'rained hired gun by ta look it." M said as he and Kagami joined the three of them. Konata looked up at the giant man, noticing that Kuroi was thrown rather carelessly over one of his shoulders.

Minami looked at M with raised eyebrow, somewhat surprised about his blood red skin. During her time with the Enclave, she had heard stories and reports about Enclave outposts and patrols being attacked by a massive man with blood red skin. There had even been rumors that the Brotherhood of Steel had been facing attacks by the same man or whatever the being was. "Who are you?" She asked rather plainly.

"Ta name is Megalord vi Bronstar Knight but'cha can call me M." M said with a wide smile as he extended his right hand out to Minami.

"Minami Iwasaki." The mint-green haired woman murmured as she took a hold of M's hand and shook it.

M blinked when Minami said her name. "Iwasaki? I 'member Koko mentionin' someone by t'at name a few times." He said as he patted Nanako's ass, causing the unconscious woman to admit a small moan.

"Kuroi...talked about me?" Minami asked, slightly astonished that Nanako had even mentioned her to this giant. "Wait, how do you even know her?"

"Went out for a while durin' the 'eventies. Shortly afta ya left the Enclave I think." M said with a small smile as he looked at Nanako. His head rolled back as old memories began to creep into his head. "Man, t'ose were good times."

Konata and Kagami both raised an eyebrow at the reminiscing giant. "Riiiiight." Kagami murmured, finding it very hard to believe spending time psychotic Enclave officer could be considered good. "Are you going to be okay to walk, Minami?" Konata asked as she looked at the mint-green haired woman.

"Yes, I should be just fine." Minami said as he attempted to stand up. Kail opened his mouth to protest but Minami just raised her hand, silencing the boy instantly, though M was put off as he pushed Minami back onto the table. "Hey, what ar-" Minami didn't even finish her sentence as she felt M squeeze the side of her neck. Suddenly, everything went dark as she passed into a state of unconsciousness.

Konata blinked as Minami collapsed onto the table, out like a light bulb. "What did you do to her?" She asked as M threw Minami over his other shoulder.

"T'eres t'is little nerve in yer neck. Hit t'at and you yer out like a light bulb." M said as he tapped the side of his neck, about were the nerve should be. "Kinda like t'at weird fist move t'at Bos 'aught their kids." He added as he made sure both Minami and Nanako were secure on his wide shoulders. "Kail, you take ta little one over t'ere." Kail gave a small nod before moving over to pick up Yutaka. The dirty blonde young man slung Vampire's Edge over one shoulder before he slipped an arm behind Yutaka's shoulders and another under the back of her legs.

"Was it necessary to do that though?" Kagami asked this time as she looked around the bloodied subway station, finally noticing exactly how many people were killed. The man who did this must've been inhuman to have killed everyone here and torture Minami and Yutaka. Though, she couldn't say she cared much of anything for Minami, especially after her little letter stunt, though it was a good thing that Konata didn't believe a word of it.

"Hells yeah it was! It is the duty of a Knight to protect and offer aid to those who need help!" M loudly proclaimed as he puffed out his chest and pounded it once with his right hand. Kuroi just about slipped off his shoulder but he stopped her right in time. "Now let's get the fuck out of here. I'm gettin' hungry." M headed for the slopping tunnel with Kail and Konata not too far behind.

Kagami sighed and shook her head. "I've got a feeling some weird shit is going to happen." She murmured lightly to herself as she followed after her wife and the two men into the darkness.

**In W's secret base that is definitely NOT Raven Rock**

Kou sighed lightly to herself as she looked at W's unconscious body as it laid in the virtual reality pod. The clone had died just around twenty minutes and W still hadn't woken up yet. Sighing again, she turned her attention back to the book she was reading. Suddenly, the pod's door opened with a burst of air before W gasped loudly. "W?" Kou asked worriedly as her partner stumbled out of the pod, clutching at his chest tightly.

"I'm fine, Kou. I'm fine." W murmured before he punched himself once in the chest and gasped loudly again. He shook his head before turning his attention to the worried looking Kou. "Do remind me not to die again while controlling one of the clones."

Kou moved over to W and put an arm around his shoulder before leading him over to the chair she was sitting in just a moment again. "So, what happened? Did you get the information that you wanted?" She questioned before she went to go get W a bottle of water.

"Is this from the water from the Jefferson Purifier?" W asked cautiously as he took the bottle from Kou. She shook her head in reply. She understood why he was still wry and cautious when things were handed to him. W had spent just over 200 years in almost complete isolation with only smallest interaction with the Enclave. The blunette man sighed before opening the bottle and downing the entire bottle in a few short gulps. Sighing, he leaned back into the chair and closed his eyes. After about a minute of silence, W finally said, "I didn't get a single word out of Minami, though I highly doubt she knew much of anything. The injuries I inflicted on her should be enough to kill the green haired bitch. Kuroi, on the other hand, was the one that killed me." His emerald green eyes opened slowly as he glared at nothing in particular. "I'm going to have to have a small talk with my niece today and with Kagami Izumi tonight. Maybe they know something."

Kou smiled lightly as she sat down on W's lap and began to run her finger lightly through his cobalt blue hair. "Well, that's all fine and good. Though, you should rest before you do anything else." She murmured lightly to her companion before kissing his forehead. "Or would you much rather play?"

Smirking, W looked at Kou as he placed a hand on her cheek. "Hmhmhm...What do you think?" He said with a light chuckle. Slowly, he brought Kou in for a passionate kiss.

Kind of a cliffhanger-ish kind of ending, though I do like to leave things open for interpretation. Not much actually happened this chapter though you do get a bit of an insight of M and Kuroi's relationship. Not much more to say besides that I promise that the next chapter will definitely not take as long as this one to do. Also, the next two chapters will fill in some plot holes, such as how M and Kuroi first met and how Minami and Kail know each other.


	5. The Sound of Madness or Indestructible

Author's Note-

Sometimes…I fucking hate reality. Anyways, there is supposed to be a chapter before this one, but I have yet to finish it in the year since I started it(Shocking I know considering it's been almost three YEARS since I last updated). The technical Chapter 5 is supposed to about Kagami and Konata with Kail tagging along as they head down to Rivet City to pick up Hiyori. Shit Happens. Not a lot of any action, just plot. This Chapter is about Minami and Nanako with M going to the Vault-Tec Building to meet a contact for a scientist. Not a lot of plot, just raiders being killed and what I hope is a very apt description of what it'd feel like to have your arm ripped off slowly. So yeah…I'll try and have Chapter 5 up within the next…whenever the fuck I feel like finishing the last 500 to 1000 words. Also, I should mention I jumped the timeline ahead by…4 years apparently and it seems I need to update the story. So yeah, there's that for me to do.

Have fun and I hope someone out there enjoys this.

**A Mile west of the Republic of Miyuki; 12:48 AM, October 26****th****, 2287**

Wood. There was a wooden ceiling above her. It was strange for her to wake up underneath a wooden ceiling. For so long she had slept down in the Meresti Station that she was used to waking up to the sight of cold concrete walls or, rather the warm face of Yutaka. Closing her eyes, Minami tried to remember what happened to have brought to this unknown place. Then it hit her all at once. The complete slaughter of the Family, her subsequent battle with W and her defeat by the man and the numerous injuries he wrought on her.

Opening her eyes once again, she lifted her arm, but what she saw was very different from what she was expecting. Coming out of where her arm had been separated just below her elbow was a skeletal metal forearm that led into a same kind of hand. Multi-coloured wires traced the metal bones before ending at just about the palm of her new metal hand. Flexing her new fingers and twisting about the hand, she was surprised about the dexterity the new limb possessed. It was very close to her original flesh-and-bone hand. Did Hiyori do this? No, it couldn't have been her. She and Patty were gone a trip up to the Commonwealth for at least a few more days. Then who did this for her?

"Well, look who's awake." A voice came from just to her right. Minami instantly turned her voice and stared at a man in his late-thirties that stood just about 6 feet tall. His thin form was clothed in a carefully buttoned-up scientist's overcoat while heavy tan combat boots covered his feet and large black gloves cover his hands and forearms. Greyish-white hair adorned his head while a pair of icy blue eyes covered by rimmed glasses were set back into his head. The man had been looking over a clipboard before he noticed Minami had awoken.

"You were in pretty rough shape when M and Kail brought you in, Miss Iwasaki. I am-"

"Gundrocius Amadaius. I know who you are. You aren't the only one who likes to keep tabs on people." Minami interrupted, her tone managing to retain its monotonic pattern despite being a bit hoarse. "I'm guessing that you are the one that did this to me?" She questioned while lifting her mechanical hand.

A smug smirk came to Gundro's lips while he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you know anyone else with the skills and resources to build and hardwire a prosthetic hand straight into the human nervous system without waking a person?"

"I might." Minami retorted, throwing the sheets off of herself before positioning herself to sit on the edge of the bed. At this point she noticed she was naked, causing her to glare suspiciously at Gundro. "Why am I naked?"

"Like I said, you were in rough shape when you came in. I had to perform surgery to fix some of what was wrong with." Gundro explained before lifting a sheet on his clipboard. After letting out a light cough, he began to read off what was on the sheet. "You had five broken rips, your left hand had been pierced by a sharp object, your left shoulder had been dislocated, your right knee cap had been broken, your right arm had been severed at just below the elbow, there were several small perforations in back, aaaaaand…your left kidney needed to be removed."

"Great." She murmured before looking around for _Vampire's Edge_. She noticed the katana was laying in a chair next to the bed on top of a small stack of neatly folded clothes. Grabbing the sword, she pulled it from its sheath and inspected it, taking a mental note that someone had cleaned and sharpened it. Resheathing it, she grabbed the pile of clothes next and grabbed the pair of panties on top. "No bra?" She asked while standing and slipping on the panties.

"Do you need one?"

"Not really." Minami said, grabbing the tanktop and putting it on next. Looking over the rest of the clothes, she frowned deeply when she noticed they were her clothes. Deciding not to push it, she sighed and began putting the tan khaki pants. "Where're Yutaka and Kail?" She asked, looking over Gundro once more.

The doctor was simply leaning back against the wall, looking over the other pages of his clipboard. "Miss Yutaka is still unconscious in the next room over and Kail left one hour, ten minutes, forty-three seconds ago with Miss Konata and Miss Kagami to go pick up an old assistant of mine." He replied without even looking from his clipboard.

Nodding, Minami picked up the duster and looked it over. Unlike her normal tan duster, this one was jet black and it felt quite heavier also. Slipping it on, she could some form of sheath up her left sleeve where she suspected could hide a knife. Suddenly, her stomach growled from hunger. A light chuckle came from Gundro before he walked over to bed. Producing two apples and a blood packet, he set them on the bed. "Eat those. When you're done with those, come outside. I have a job for you." With those words, he turned around and left the room, not even giving Minami a chance to say anything else.

Several minutes later, Minami left the house with _Vampire's Edge_ strapped to the right side of her waist. At the sight partial concrete wall and white picket fence that surround the house and its grounds, she raised an eyebrow before looking around for Gundro. What surprised her more was the large barn-like structure just to her right. In front of the barn was a heavily armored Humvee with none other than Kuroi sitting on the hood looking over a large sniper rifle. Next to the Humvee was Gundro talking with the large red-skinned man that had fought with Nanako. Nanako was wearing her regular officer's overcoat; however it wasn't zipped up, revealing her to be wearing a white sports bra and baggy dark pants along with black combat boots. The large man wore an identical black duster to Minami while wearing a dirty tee-shirt, heavy black pants and tanned combat boots.

"So, what's this job that you wanted me to do?" Minami asked after she walked over to the large man and Gundro.

"Oh, the job." Gundro mused while tapping his chin. Nanako called the red man over to her, saying something about how bad the condition of the rifle she was looking over was. "I am having you, Nanako, and M head over to the Vault-Tec Headquarters to meet up with a contact of mine. She is supposed to have information on why so many raiders are moving into the Capital Wasteland." When he mentioned Nanako and M, he pointed over to the arguing couple.

"Alright, and this will clear my dept with you regarding my arm?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. While she wasn't exactly expecting this man to just let her away with doing a single job, you never know.

However, what happened next was something that she wasn't expecting. Nanako, Gundro, and M all stopped and stared at Minami for a few seconds before they all busted out in a heavy fit of laughter. "Girl, ya done don' do jus' one job fer G-man!" M said after a bit, however the large man was still laughing.

Nanako, while chuckling lightly while wiping tears from her eyes, walked over to Minami and put an arm around her shoulders. "Minami, Minami, Minami, the moment you got your hand hacked off and Gundro replaced it with one of his cybernetic ones, you became…how shall we say…fucked." Kuroi told her, pointing at Minami's right hand.

"You're kidding…" Minami asked, narrowing her eyes at Nanako.

"She isn't." Gundro said, stilling chuckling a bit himself. "That hand right there costs over one hundred thousand alone. The surgery and the resources I used up to keep you alive add up to another to another ten thousand meaning you'd have to do around…hmmm…eighty jobs to just pay off yours and Miss Yutaka's debts."

Minami blinked in surprise and her mouth fell open at the amount of money. Even if she did a job every day, it was going to take over a year to pay off the debt. "And if I decide not to pay off the debt?"

With a wide smile, Gundro motioned to M standing next to him. "Meet the eight hundred pounds and seven feet of muscle and assurance that you'll need to get past first. And, I would also like to remind you that I do have Miss Yutaka in my possession."

At the mention of Yutaka, Minami pulled _Vampire's Edge_ from her sheath, took the two steps to Gundro and pressed the blade into his throat. "You do not possess me or Yutaka. Never forget that." She told in a low, dangerous voice. A click just above her brought the feel of cold metal against the side of her temple. Looking up, she came eye to eye with M and the very large revolver that he had.

"I won't, as long as you do a good job." Gundro told her right back, that smug smile never leaving his lips. Without another word to each other, Gundro and Minami turned away. Minami sheathed her katana before climbing into the back seat of the Humvee while Gundro headed inside the house.

Nanako moved around the vehicle and got into the passenger side. Turning in her seat, she looked back at Minami with a wide smirk. "So, what's got your panties in a knot?"

Staring at her old friend for several moments, Minami finally let out a rough sigh. "Among other things, I don't like being used." She said, watching as M got in on driver's side.

"Well get used to it. Gundro pretty much owns your ass for the next while." Nanako told Minami with a light chuckle before turning back around.

"A'right ladies, buckle up and get yer helmets on! It's gonna be one hella bumpy ride!" M laughed before turning on the Humvee to which the vehicle responded to by roaring to life. Flooring it, M shot around his house and head off the grounds of his propriety right on through the gap that Konata and Kagami headed out through.

**Within the Chevy Chase Subway System; 1:27PM, Same Day**

"What do you think that was?" Nanako mused while dust was shaken loose from the ceiling of the subway tunnel by a small tremor.

"Probably nothing more than a stupid raider accidentally blowing up a car he was shooting." Minami replied. Nanako just nodded while they continued on down the dark tunnel. After a few minutes, Minami looked back behind her at M and frowned a bit. "Okay, I've got a question. Why does he have a missile launcher?"

Nanako looked back at him also and raised an eyebrow curiously. "Why do you have a missile launcher?" She asked M.

"In case we come across somethin' d'at we need to kill with a rocket. And it ain't no missile launcher, it's a M30 Multi-Shot Bazooka." M explained with a wide grin while patting the side of the large shoulder mounted weapon, the cigar in the right corner of his mouth switching over to the other side.

"There's your answer, Minami." Nanako told her.

Minami just shook her head before she said, "Whatever, let's just get to Vault-Tec headquarters so we can get this job done." With a light chuckle, Nanako followed after the mint-green haired woman with M following close behind, humming _Indestructible _by Disturbed. It took them a bit, but they finally entered the Central Metro Station that would take them straight to the Vault-Tec Headquarters. The threes military training took control as they found fresh signs of Raider occupation and moved forward with caution. Minami unsheathed Vampire's Edge while Nanako unholstered her Sig-Sauer 14mm Pistol. As they continued down the tunnel that would lead them into Central Metro Station proper, a light flickered ahead, hinting at a raider patrolling with a flashlight.

Minami and Nanako darted over to the walls and pressed them against the walls as much as they could when the flashlight was turned in their direction. "Well well well, what the fuck do-" The male raider began as he approached, the light catching M. The raider had stopped talking as his light slowly travelled up M's body before illuminating the large man's face—revealing him to be grinning widely—and his equally large gun. The last thing to go through the raider's mind was a 100mm High-Explosive SABOT round, completely blowing him apart, spraying the ground, ceiling, and walls with his remains.

"Way to go, Murphy. You just alerted every raider in the place to our location." Nanako hissed while wiping some blood off her face as she and Minami rejoined M.

"My will is strong, my sanity questionable, and my gun very, very large." M stated while loading a new round into the bazooka's top feeder. Exchanging confused looks, Nanako and Minami shook their heads while they moved quickly down the tunnel.

Up ahead, raiders were already heading their way. The group that was occupying the Station was just around 10 strong—minus the one that was already splatter all over the Chevy Chase Connecting Tunnel. Most of the group was armed with assorted knives and lead pipes, however the group leader had an HK MP10 Submachine Gun and his two Bodyguards had Colt 556 Assault Carbines. Two raiders quickly ran into the tunnel after they heard the explosion and their friend's hand came flying out of the tunnel. Moments later, one gunshot could be heard by the female raider of the two screaming before she was cut off and replacing with a horrible gurgling sound.

"Get the fuck in there and kill those assholes!" The leader yelled at the remaining six raiders. The four that had knives and pipes were hesitant to throw themselves into the tunnel, however the two that acted as the leader's guards moved up in front of the tunnel. The two spent the next minute unloading three clips of ammunition each into the tunnel. A confident look came across their faces, however it was quickly replaced a look of terror as M came out, holding up his duster in front of him, using the it like a shield against the storm a bullets.

"Oh fuckin' yeah!" M roared, throwing his duster aside and bringing his bazooka to bear on the assault rifle wielding raiders. Pulling the trigger, the round launched made impact with the ground between them and sent them flying in two different directions. One was dead right away—a given fact considering he was closest to the explosion—however the other wasn't dead until he hit a wall with a sickening crunch of bone and meat.

Next, Minami and Nanako darted out of the tunnel. Minami made a beeline for the mooks while Nanako went after the leader.

"Fucking bitch!" The man screamed while he shot at Nanako. The blonde Colonel quickly rolled to the side and shot the man in his main shoulder, knocking him off-balance and causing him to accidentally gun down one of his comrades. He quickly tried to reload before his right hand was blown messily off; knocking his SMG out of his hand and him back on the escalator he was standing on. Trying to standing back up, Kuroi fired off two rounds and blew out his knees. Turning around, he watched helplessly Nanako come up the steps while she loaded in a fresh clip into her pistol. When she got close enough, the raider leader grabbed a knife from his waist and swung at her. Bending back slight, she narrowly dodged the swipe before she reached up and grabbed the man's wrist. She pressed the barrel of her pistol into her elbow and pulled the trigger, blowing his arm in half. The leader screamed out at that but it was quickly cut off by Nanako shoving the barrel of her pistol into his mouth.

"Petulant little fuck." She growled, pulling the trigger. Blood and bits of bone and gore splatter across her face, hair, and the front of her chest, staining the sports bra that contained her rather large breasts—though not all that large to the big guy with the bazooka.

Minami on the other hand quickly dispatched the remaining raider. The first she cut across the gut, disemboweling her, before using the moment of her swing and movement to spin herself around and plunge Vampire's Edge into the second's chest. She released the katana and turned to face the third raider. The third was screaming incoherently at her and swung a knife at Minami, who caught the man's wrist. She squeezed his wrist until he released the knife from pain and Minami caught the knife mid-air. A second later, the knife was returned to its owner via being shoved up through the bottom of his mouth and into his brain cavity. Moving over to where the second raider laid, Minami pulled Vampire's Edge out of the corpse before wiping the blade off and sheathing it at her waist.

Walking over to where M's duster laid, Kuroi reached inside and grabbed a rag from one of the many pockets that was inside. While she wiped off what she could of the gore that covered her face and torso. "You know dat's a good look fer ya, Koko." M said with a wide smirk, picking up the heavy duster and slipping it back on. The dozen or so guns inside clinking against each other while doing so.

"Keep it in your pants, Murphy, and don't call me Koko." Nanako told him, throwing the bloodied rag at his face before walking over to Minami

"And yous don' call me Murphy." Megalord retorted, loading the last 100mm round he had on his person into his bazooka.

Minami meanwhile was still standing where she had slain the three raiders. Her eyes stared across the subway station and a stoic look on her face. She was deep enough in thought that she didn't even sense Nanako approaching until she felt the woman's arms drape over her shoulder and her nip lightly at her ear lobe to get her attention. "What's got you thinking so deeply?" Kuroi whispered seductively from behind.

After shifting a bit and forcing Nanako off of her, Minami turned to face her once-friend with a small frown. "There's quite a few raiders moving into the DC area from the south, at least fifty or so every day. Most just pass right on through on their way north but a couple groups stick around. I've also heard that their also coming in from the east and west, but those groups just avoid the greater DC area."

"And you're wondering where they're all going?" Nanako questioned with a raised eyebrow while her arms crossed over her chest.

"Right. It has to be some place that can hold a very large amount of people very easily. Secondly, there has to be someone keeping them from tearing each other apart." Minami continued, "This feels like the Teeth all over again."

"And there's no Enclave or Brotherhood of Steel to stop it's going to happen again."

Minami nodded before adding, "There is Talon Company and the Brotherhood Outcasts, who have pretty much become the de facto BoS of the region, but neither of them are going to help out any of the settlements in the area."

"Maybe it's some big raider convention!" M enthusiastically chimed in as he joined the two women, his bazooka slung over his back now. Both of them just looked at M with a look that pretty much asked him if he was damned bloody idiot.

"M, shut the fuck up and just stand there and look scary." Nanako growled at the large man before turning his attention back to Minami. "Ignore him. So, the Capital Wasteland is pretty much screwed if the Teeth happen again?" Minami just responded with a curt nod, causing Nanako to roughly sigh and scratch the back of her head. "Great, this is fan-fucking-tastic. Not alive for more than three days and the everything is on the edge of getting assraped by a bunch of tweaked-out psychopaths."

"And you aren't a psychopath?" Questioned Minami with a clever smirk.

"I didn't say I wasn't, but I'm not tweaked-out." Nanako responded matter-of-factly.

"And she's got a nice ass to boot." M chimed in a second time, though in a stoic and very masculine voice. The large man had his shoulders squared, his brow deeply furrowed, and a deep frown on his lips as he tried his best to look fearsome and serious.

Nanako was about to yell at him about piping up again when what M had just said and the way he said it crossed hers and Minami's minds. The result was Nanako nearly doubling over with laughter while the normally monotonic and emotionless Minami snorted while covering her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud like the blonde. Even though he was trying his darned hardest, M broke the serious look and laughed himself. It took the three of them a few moments to calm themselves.

"Oh fuck, you are an asshole, M." Nanako managed to say even though she was still laughing a bit. Once calming entirely, she let out a sigh before saying, "Alright, let's get out of here. These bodies are starting to stink up the place. Not that it didn't already stink."

Minami and M both nodded before the group moved across the Central Metro Station and down into the tunnel that would bring them out in front of Vault-Tec Headquarters. After a rather uneventful 16 minutes, Minami and Nanako slowly moved up the stairs and looked around the area around Vault-Tec Headquarters. A few buildings had long since collapsed, though VTHQ still stood, if a little dilapidated. Down the road from them was another group of 25 raiders, however they weren't looking in their direction and instead seemed to be moving away from them.

Moving out into the open, the two ex-Sigmas dashed across the lot to the front door of VT Headquarters. Looking back at the metro entrance, Nanako saw M crouching there with his bazooka leveled at a car near the raiders. Nanako quickly picked up a rock and threw it at M's head, getting his attention. She made a quick slash across her throat with two fingers before waving for him to join them. M nodded, lowering his weapon before jogging over to the two.

"Okay, here's the plan. Minami, we'll be heading inside to meet Gundro's contact. M, you wait for us out here and for fuck's sake don't shoot anything unless it shoots you first." Ordered the Enclave Colonel while pulling out her pistol and loading in a fresh clip. The two both gave short nods. While unsheathing her katana, Minami followed Nanako inside while M turned and faced the stretch of rubble strewn ground between him and the Metro entrance.

The front lobby of Vault-Tec Headquarters looked pretty much how one would expect of a pre-war building in post-Great War America. While there wasn't much rubble around, there was a thick layer of dust on everything. Several skeleton laid scattered across the lobby, including a few large skeletons that obviously belonged to Super Mutants given their overall size. On the upper balcony were the remnants of a couple Mister Gutsies and a Protectron. Upon further examination of the lobby one could tell that people had been around recently by the disruption of the dust layer.

Both women were silent as they looked around the lobby, wondering where Gundro's contact. Minami stopped when looked around the front lobby, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as she sensed something was in the room with them. Clicking her tongue twice, she instantly got Nanako's attention, who was looking through a magazine that was sitting on a chair. Minami nodded down to her hands, signing to the blonde the symbol they were taught in their Sigma days for 'Stealth Boy' before nodding to up the balcony to her right. Scanning the upper balcony, Nanako frowned when she noticed the telltale sign of a faint shimmer leaning against the railing.

"Alright, might as well reveal yourself. We know that you're there." Ordered Nanako while pointing her gun at the shimmer.

A low chuckle filled the air followed by a female voice with a Brooklyn/Southern mix accent saying, "Darn, it seems I've been found out by you clever Sigmas." The shimmer wavered for a moment before the illusion was dropped. A tall woman with tanned skinned and waist-length blood red hair pulled back into a pony tail stood in the shimmer's place. A blood-stained white tank top that clung tightly to her impressively large bust with a pair of denim short-shorts and black combat boots clothed the woman's body along with a black duster similar to what M and Minami were wearing, only with complete sleeves. Pulling the Stealth-Boy, off her wrist she tossed it aside before placing a booted foot on the railing.

Narrowing her eyes, Nanako responded with, "Sigmas? Don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, don't play shy, General Nanako Kuroi. Gundro told me all about you and Lieutenant Minami Iwasaki before you got here. Surprised to see you up and walking around after that fierce beating you took, Lieutenant." The woman said with a wide smirk spread on her lips while her bright golden eyes stared down at the two.

Out of the corners of their eyes, Minami and Nanako looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the woman. She at least knew their ranks, well at least Minami's before she left the Enclave, unless she was mocking Nanako by calling her General since she pretty much promoted herself in her final days.

"So, you're Gundro's contact. Do you mind handing over the information so that we can get headed back." Minami asked taking a couple steps forward and holding out her right hand while she gripped her katana's handle tighter with her left.

"Tut tut tut," Went the woman while waving her right finger at Minami, "not so fast, Cannibal. First, you have to prove yourself first before I'd be willing to hand such sensitive information."

Minami's entire face twitched when the woman called her 'Cannibal'. It was something that she really didn't like being called. "Great, what do want us to do?" Minami asked, agitated by the comment.

"Glad you asked." The mysterious woman said, reaching inside of her duster and producing a flash drive attached to a necklace. Putting the necklace around her neck, she pulled out the front of her tank top and dropped the flash drive down between her breasts. "Get the flash drive by any means necessary and you win."

Both Minami and Nanako stared at the woman for several moments before they both asked, "Seriously?"

The woman nodded briefly with a wide smirk. "Yep. I'm curious to see how two Sigmas stand up to one Hollegeboren."

This time it was Nanako's face that twitched, however Minami was confused by the statement. "Hollegeboren?"

"The Hollegeboren is the name of those that survived a pre-war super soldier project. The Enclave tried to recreate the results and failed. Project Ascension was an attempt and was quite possibly the closest to succeeding. Ask Gundro when we get back for a more in-depth explanation than that," explained Nanako in a low voice as she slowly lowered her pistol while glaring at the woman.

"Oooooh, looks like blondie is pretty smart. Isn't that a surprise." The woman mocked with a somewhat wider smirk. In a flashed, Nanako had her pistol back up and pulled the trigger, however the round passed harmlessly by her targets head when she tipped her head casually to the side. Without another word, the woman launched herself into the air.

Nanako and Minami lunged to the sides just as the woman's heel made contact with the lobby desk. Even though it was bolted to the ground, decades of neglect and the mere force behind the drop kick uprooted the desk. Catching the desk, the woman threw the heavy desk at Nanako before twisting around to meet Minami as she got back to her feet and rushed her opponent. Nanako had to bend almost completely backward to avoid the desk and it missed her just an inch before impacting the wall several feet behind her.

Getting back on her feet, Nanako watched the fight between the red-headed woman and Minami…well, as much of a fight as it seemed. More or less, the woman was side stepping every slash and jab that Minami made before issuing a small love tap to her shoulder or chest. The woman was laughing the entire time, which only added to irritate the two of them even further. Growling, Nanako ran at the pair, her fist raised and pulled back. Noticing the very clearly pissed-off Nanako coming at them, Minami quickly took a couple steps back. Confused at this action, the woman turned her head just in time for it to be whipped back around the other by Nanako's punch.

With a satisfied smirk, Nanako stepped back before spinning around to plant a roundhouse kick to the side of the woman's head only for her to catch her foot. Reaching back, the woman grabbed Nanako's ponytail and with relative ease, threw her at Minami, knocking Vampire's Edge from her hand. The two Sigmas were thrown across the room and slammed into a wall near a set of stairs.

"Fuck Kuroi, did you gain weight?" Minami asked harshly while trying to untangle herself from the blonde and to push her off of her.

"Shut the fuck up." Was all Nanako growled while trying to get off of Minami. However they stopped moving the heard the click of a gun hammer being pulled back. Looking up, they saw the woman standing over them with a Colt M1911 in her right hand.

"As much fun as this has been, but it seems like you've lost, bitches." She said, that arrogant smirk turning into an even more arrogant grin.

At this moment, Deus ex Machina decided to finally take effect as the front lobby doors pushed open and M popped his head in. "Hey, wha's takin' so long?" He asked with an impatient undertone.

"Big brother!" The woman happily exclaimed, almost instantly losing interest in Minami and Nanako and quickly ran over to M as he moved into the room.

"Big brother?" The two Sigmas repeated as they finally got untangled from each other and got back on their feet.

"Hey, Melody! How ya doing?" Happily asked M, setting aside his bazooka before embracing his younger sister.

Minami and Nanako stood back watching the two siblings chatting happily to each other. Looking at Kuroi standing next to her with her arms crossed over her chest, Minami noticed that she didn't look too happy to find out that the woman was M's sister. "I'm guessing he never told you he had a younger sister?" She questioned turning her gaze back to the siblings.

"He did, but I didn't realize that they were so touchy-feely." And the two were indeed very touchy-feely. Most of the questions they asked each other were very personal in nature and usually the other would laugh and answer the question before nudging the questioner.

"Jealous?" As soon as the question left Minami's mouth, Nanako punched her in shoulder and knocked her off balance for a moment. With a smirk, Minami just shook her head before moving over to retrieve her katana.

While the two siblings chatted, Minami looked over one of deactivated Mister Gutsy that was on the upper level of the foyer. Not finding anything of particular interest within the robotic corpse, she moved back over to Nanako, who was leaning against the wall at the base of the stairs, glaring menacingly at the siblings. It was a good ten minutes before she coughed overly loudly to get M and Melody's attention.

"Don't we have a job we need to be doing right about now?" Nanako asked with a less-than-subtle angry undertone to her voice.

Melody sighed in an overly exaggerated way as she grabbed the chain around her neck and pulled the flash drive from between her breasts. "Here's the information G-man wanted me to pick up for him." She told M while handing him the small device. After shooting a smug smirk at Kuroi, Melody stood up a bit higher, gripped M's chin and kissed him deeply. Breaking the kiss a few moments later, she gave the large man a wink before waving goodbye to Nanako and Minami and heading out the door.

"Seeya, Mel!" Megalord called after his younger sibling. Slipping the flash-drive inside of his duster, he looked at the two women and raised any eyebrow at their rather astonished looks. "What?"

"What the fucking hell was that!?" Nanako yelled while approaching M and motioning in the direction that Melody went.

"D'at was my sister."

"I fucking know that already, I meant what the fuck was that you two did!?" With every word, Nanako's voice rose a few decibiles. Her face was almost as red as M's was at that point.

"D'at was a kiss. We've done more d'an kiss before."

Looking at Nanako, Minami could swear she heard the blonde's brain snap at this last comment. Walking up to M, Nanako reached inside of his duster and pulled out a large revolver with at least another dozen more rounds than what was already in the chamber. Without another word, she left out the same door Melody did.

With a rough sigh, Minami moved over next to M and watched Nanako leave. "You know, that was a rather stupid thing to say." She commented, looking up at the large man out of the corner of his gaze.

"What was?" He asked in returned, scratching his broad chin.

Shaking her head, Minami then said, "Nevermind. Come on, we should go make sure she doesn't try to light the wasteland on fire….Again." Nodding, M was about to follow her outside when the sound of assorted gunfire began to fill the air. The two quickly headed outside to see what the hell Nanako had gotten herself into.

**The Colonel's Wrath**

Quickly, Nanako dashed over to a ruined car and took cover as the raiders opened fire on her. Gritting her teeth hard, she checked if the Smith and Wesson M500 she got from M was completely loaded before shoving the rounds she got in her pocket. She grabbed the door of the car and ripped it right off its hinges. Standing up, she used the door as a shield while she fired the powerful revolver from behind it. The first round she fired failed to hit anything but concrete however the second round found its mark in the thigh of a raider of firing an R91 Assault Rifle with a wire stock. The raider let out a scream as she fell back. However she was still had her finger on the trigger and accidently gunned down a nearby comrade.

Moving out from behind the car, Nanako moved slowly as she still used the heavy door as a shield. Surprisingly it was holding up considerably well against the barrage of rounds, though it was a good thing that the raiders were using small caliber weapons and none of them were good shots. After firing the last three rounds and taking down two more raiders, she got down on one knee with the door resting against her shoulder as she flipped open the cylinder and began loading in rounds. Just as she got the third round into its slot, she noticed that the gunfire had stopped. "Shit!" She cursed kicking the door into a raider that was trying to sneak up on her. Another two were standing there however, one wielding a sledgehammer and the other with a large butcher knife. Pointing the large M500 at the raider with a sledge, she pulled the trigger...

However the only retort she got was the click of an empty chamber.

"Looks like you done fucked up, bitch!" The one with a sledgehammer laughed, raising his weapon over his head. Suddenly a large shadow quickly drenched them. The Sledge-wielder looked up just in time to have a massive fist come up from below and land squarely in the bottom of his jaw. The force behind the blow was enough to rip his head messily off his shoulders and spiraling into the air.

"Neva known ya ta takes one lyin' down, Koko," chuckled the shadow's owner as he helped the colonel up.

"Never expected to have them attack me while I was reloading. Assholes." Nanako growled, handing the large revolver back to M. "Mind if I use your Bowie?"

Grinning, M reached up his right sleeve, pulled out a combat knife easily a foot-and-a-half long with the serrated back, and handed it to his Ex. Reversing her grip on the knife, Nanako took in a deep breath as she slid her left foot back and took a combat stance.

"What do you two say that the one with the least amount of kills buys the drinks tonight?" Nanako questioned her comrades while glancing at Minami as she strolled up on her left side, brandishing her katana in her left hand.

"Seriously, Kuroi? A killing bet? Isn't that a little childish even for you?" Minami asked.

"Maybe, but after a day like today I'm gonna need a couple of drinks."

Sighing, Minami shook her head before sliding into a combat stance herself. "Fine with me, as long as M has enough caps."

"I's got plenty of caps. You's better start countin' yers though." M retorted, tightening his headband and taking a boxing stance.

"Whatever you say, old man." Minami returned with a clever smirk.

"Alright, you two, quiet up. I think we've given them enough time to get reloaded." Nanako cracked her neck once before suddenly yelling, "One, two, _go_!" On the quick signal she came up with on the spot, Kuroi shot forward. She didn't have to look behind herself to know that the other two were behind her. The looks on the twenty or so raiders' faces was enough of a tell.

**Just outside the entrance to the Meresti Subway Station. 2:41 PM, Same Day.**

Standing in front of the rusted broken down gate to Meresti Station, Minami took in a deep breath to calm herself. As much as she hated to come back to this place, she needed to bury her friends and pick up a few things from hers and Yutaka's room.

"So what da fuck are we doin' heres again?" M asked as he leaned against the side of his Humvee. The large man reached inside of his duster and pulled out a small metal case. Open the case, he pulled out a cigar, popping it into the corner of his mouth, and lit it with a zippo lighter from inside the small case.

Minami looked over at M with a raised eyebrow and a look of disbelief. "Really? You've forgotten already?"

"Minami, don't blame M for forgetting something this simple. He forgot my birthday every year we were together." Nanako commented as she grabbed the cigar from M's lips and took a puff from it herself.

"Oi! I gots lots of thin's on my mind."

"Like what? Coming up with new ways of lighting yourself on fire?"

"More like tryin' to figure out a way to punch people with grenades."

"That's fucking retarded!"

"And lettin' yerself bein' bossed around by a computa is any smarta?"

Shaking her head, Minami turned right back around and headed down into the station, leaving the couple to argue. Heading down into the entrance tunnel she was soon met with a large wooden wall. The wall had been erect as a counter-measure against raiders. While it wouldn't be able to stand against persistence, anyone that would be trying to get through would create enough noise to alert the Family. Searching along the wall for a moment, Minami found the loose panel that would allow her inside, moved it aside, and entered the rest of the entrance tunnel. It was barely a minute walk to the door that lead to her room, however as she reached for the doorknob, the faint scent of blood reached her nose. While it wasn't unusual considering the massacre days earlier, what was strange was the two different mingling scents of blood along with gunpowder. Turning her attention from the door down the hall to Meresti Station, she slowly pulled her Katana from its sheath while continuing down the tunnel.

Poking her head around the corner, Minami glanced around Meresti Station proper. The wreckage of that had once been the resting area had been disturbed and a trail of congealed blood led across the platform and down the escalator. Following the trail with her eyes, she had to lean out a bit further into the station to see just where the trail was going and what she saw she didn't like. Thirteen bodies hung by rope that extended from the ceiling. Eight of the bodies belonged to those of her comrades while the other five belonged to men wearing the armor of Talon Company's 2nd Squad. Three of the men were peppered with over a dozen bullet holes each while the other two looked as if they had been attacked by a deathclaw. Their guts had ripped messily out while their chests cavities were exposed.

A low whistle suddenly came from behind Minami followed by the voice of Nanako. "Shit, looks like those Talons got fucked up royally. What do you think happened to them?"

"Don't know." Was all Minami said. She wasn't worried about what happened to Talon Mercs; she was more worried about who do this to her friends. Moving out from behind cover, she stepped onto the escalator when she noticed something was off, even more so than the bodies hanging from the ceiling. Several shadows seemed to have a light shimmering to them.

"Nanako." She said quietly under her breath while glancing over her left shoulder.

"What's up." Nanako asked from right behind Minami.

"We have company. Stealthed."

Quickly, Nanako looked around until she noticed the spots of gentle shimmering. "Shit," she cursed, "how many?"

"Three. May be more elsewhere." Minami spoke quickly and quietly in short sentences so that they weren't heard well.

Again, Kuroi cursed loudly. How had she not noticed the stealthed people first? Were her skills getting that rusty? Then again, she had been alive for a minimum of three days, but still. "Come on. Pretend that you don't notice anything. If we're lucky, they won't pay us any attention."

Minami nodded quickly before moving the rest of the way down the escalator. Rounding the corner, she headed back to the caged area where Karl kept their supplies. Pushing open the gate, she stepped into the area. After sheathing Vampire's Edge, Minami grabbed a box off the shelf and began to gather any supplies of value. While it wasn't important to grab the stuff, it was smarter to take it with her before any Raiders or scavengers came by and took it for themselves. Ten minutes later she was done and had filled up two boxes. A lot of what she had gathered up was ammunition, but she managed to find a couple of pistols, a fission battery, a few pounds of food stuffs, six stimpaks, and their supply of blood packs. Grabbing the old pump-action shotgun that Karl occasionally used, she handed it to Nanako by the gate before asking, "How many are there?"

"At least eight, though I might've miscounted. They move around like fish. Two headed up the stairs though." The blonde replied while loading in shells from one of the boxes.

Minami nodded and with a box under each arm, she headed for the nearest terminal. While the terminals in foyer area didn't contain any information that was particularly important, they did contain information on the Family that she could use to help rebuild it after she had paid off her debts to Doctor Amadaius. Setting the boxes down on the table next to the first terminal, she unplugged if before she went about the process of dismantling it. While Minami wasn't particularly knowledgeable about computers and science-y things, she did know how to take them apart and to take out the important bits since they sold for a high price when brought to the right people.

Just as she was getting to the hard-drive, she felt Nanako urgently elbow her in the back. "What?" Minami asked while pulling out the delicate piece of old tech.

"Seems they're paying us attention." Nanako replied.

Without a seconds hesitation, Minami spun her heel while pulling Vampire's Edge from its sheath. The sword didn't make it halfway out when she heard a click close to her head. Looking to her right, a long shimmering object was pointed at her head.

"Don't even think about it, Vampire." A filtered male voice came from the stealthed being.

"German?" Minami whispered, reluctantly releasing the handle and allowing the sword to slide back down into its sheath.

"Yep. Must be some cult that wondered into a history museum or something." Nanako replied before she said loudly, "You can turn off the Stealth-boys now. No need to keep them on."

After a few moments of strained silenced the stealthed people appeared. There was definitely eight people there. Two were perched on the upper platform with sniper rifle trained on the two women. Another was standing just to Minami's left with a silenced assault rifle pointed at her head. One stood two meters in front of them with a large steel construct that was crafted in the imitation of a Deathclaw arm attached to their left arm. Another with the steel claw stood next to the ruined tables with two flanking with assault rifles, also suppressed. And finally, the last member stood near the far escalator with what looked like a…repeating crossbow.

"Must've heard of you and thought you were an actual vampire, Minami." Kuroi commented at the sight of the person with the crossbow. The only response she got was Minami rolling her eyes before she inspected their armor. It looked like Hazmat suits, only they had hoods pulled over their heads and strips of camouflage fabric hanging from their bodies.

Turning her attention to the person with the steel claw 2 meters, Kuroi asked, "I'm guessing you're the leader of this little entourage?"

Again silence before the person flanked by to riflemen spoke up. "No, that's my honour." A filtered female voice spoke from the person. The woman was a bit shorter than her two flanking comrades with the assault rifles. "My question now; where is the third member of your group?"

"What do you mean? It's just us." Nanako lied while crossing her arms over her chest.

"We have word from our comrades in uptown region confirming that you two were travelling with a man that matches the description of another man we are hunting."

"Oh? That guy? He helped us out with a problem. He left us somewhere in the tunnels."

"It's possible." The woman spoke while stroking her chin.

"My turn. Who are you guys?" Minami questioned this time.

The woman with steel claw turned her gaze onto the mint-green haired woman. "We are the hands of Lord Moarte."

"Lord Moarte?"

"Yes. He is coming to these lands to purge it of the corruption that has tainted its roots and to kill the Traitorous One." The woman answered.

Minami nodded slowly to the words before glancing at Nanako out of the corner of her gaze. "You understanding any of this, because it's not making sense to me."

"Not one bit." Nanako responded before she then asked the leader of these mysterious people, "So what are going to do with us?"

"Kill you. The Traitorous One can't be alerted to our presence in the Capital Wasteland."

"Thought I told you we don't know anything about this guy you are hunting." Nanako retorted harshly, tightening her grip on the shotgun in her hands. Minami was eying the guy next to her while her left hand slowly reached for Vampire's Edge. The situation was quickly degrading and if they didn't prepare fast, they were going to die.

"It matters not. Rumours spread like wildfire and can reach ears they weren't meant to." The woman responded as she lifted her clawed hand.

Nanako cursed under her breath, her eyes switching from person to person trying to figure out who was going to fire first. "Mind if we get your name before you kill us?"

"Izu-" The woman was cut off by two sickening cracks followed by twin wet thumps. Everyone turned their gaze to see the bodies of the two snipers lying on the concrete, their heads twisted to odd angles. Turning their gaze upward, they say the cause: a very pissed off M looking down on the scene with one foot on the railing. After stepping the rest of the way onto the railing, he dropped down into the main area. Angry golden eyes scanned those gather. "Kill him!" The leader yelled, pointing her clawed hand at M.

The two men with assault rifles turned their guns on the large men; Nanako was quicker on the draw however and took them both down in a barrage of buckshot. The man closest to Minami was about to fire on Nanako when Minami punched him in the gut before following up with a quick slash across his stomach and chest. Doubling over, the man wrapped his arms around his gut, trying to keep his insides…well, inside. With a quick stab between the back of his ribs, Minami put him out of his painful misery. The other person with a steel claw quickly ran at the two women. A blast from Nanako's shotgun blew off his other arm, but it did little to stop him. Taking advantage of this, Minami met the man in close combat.

The man slashed at her from above with his claw; however Minami quickly stopped the attack with back of her new cybernetic arm. Smirking at the appendage's durability, Minami then kicked the man in the gut, causing him to reel back from the blow. Quickly steadying himself, he attacked once more with a below slash. Minami deflected the blow with her sword and threw a punch into the man's helmet. With a last burst of his energy, he was able to just barely dodge the blow. Stumbling back, the man stood for several seconds before falling back on to the floor. Looking up, he watched Minami stepped over with a pitying look on her face. As she leaned down, she pressed the blade of Vampire's Edge against his throat and pulled the blade slowly across it. After letting a deep sigh while standing back up, Minami was suddenly met with a blood-curdling scream.

**The Woman's Identity is Revealed**

During Minami's fight, M fought with the leader of the group. She quickly rushed forward and swung her claw upward. Taking a step back, M narrowly missed the blow that would've disemboweled him. While the claw passed by, he grabbed her wrist as the claw went past. Lifting her up so they were face-to-face, His other hand came up and wrapped around her throat with the thumb pressing into her windpipe.

Desperate to free herself from the powerful grasp of the much larger man, the woman grabbed a small knife from her waist and rammed the blade into the side of his chest. The blow did nothing to resolve her predicament. Turning her gaze from the knife sticking out from the man's ribs to his face, she saw that burning anger in his eyes that she had been told would be there.

"I can't feel pain. You, however, can, Izumi Wakase." M snarled in her native German. Izumi's eyes went wide when he called her by name. How did he know that?

Next, M released her arm and neck, dropping her to the ground. Thanks to having her windpipe closed off for an extended period of time, Izumi laid there; gasping for air and unable to so much move her fingers. Suddenly, pressure and pain rocketed through her arm and shoulder as her enemy stepped down on her shoulder with a good portion. "You're not…going to make…me talk…" Izumi managed to hoarsely say as she glared up at him.

"Then scream." M responded simply, reaching down and grabbing Izumi's right wrist. As he pulled upwards, Izumi began to do just that; she began to scream. Her entire arm felt as if it was on fire, every joint and strand of muscle being pulled to it absolute limit until they finally began to snap. This wasn't a simple arm rip like she had heard from elders; no…this was much too slow. Izumi squirmed under the man's foot, trying to pull her arm away, however her movements proved fruitless. "Please!" She screamed, hot tears running down her cheeks and causing the inside of her face-mask to fog up, "Stop! I'll do anything!" Unanswering, the large man continued to slowly pull uppers on her arms. As the skin around her upper bicep began to break, she could feel her blood leaking into her body suit. A second later the threads of her body suit and her bicep began to tear. Thread by thread, she could feel every second of agonizing pain as her muscle was pulled apart. Once it was down to the bone, she could barely feel the twist and hear crack of bone through the pain that racked her body. She did noticed when the weight of M's booted foot slipped off of her body. Flipping onto her stomach, she quickly began scramble away.

She, however, only made it five feet before M was on her again. His left hand slammed down on her back, keeping her pinned to floor as his right came forward and hooked the bottom of her face-mask. With a quick yank back, he tore the mask from her face, exposing her to the blood-filled air of Meresti Metro Station and freeing her long hair that had been carefully pinned back into a tight bun. Izumi barely had the energy left to struggle anymore, but she continued to do so, not wanting to give this…monster the satisfaction of an easy kill. Feeling his hands back around her neck, she did her best to prepare herself for the head rip that was certainly going to be next. It didn't come however; instead she felt a sharp sting of a hypo being stuck into her neck.

'Oh, Moarte, what did this man just inject…me…with….' She began to think as her body began to grow numb and her mind haze. Looking up through her narrowing vision, she watched as her arm, free of its claw, was tossed in front of her. With the last shred of her consciousness, Izumi reached for the arm before she was finally claimed by the encroaching darkness.

**What'ja Think of D'at?**

A low whistle came from Nanako as she watched the woman reach for her arm before she was finally claimed. "Fuck, M, that was…shit, I can't even think of a good word for that kind of thing." She said, letting out a small chuckle.

"Just what I need," Minami sighed, wiping off Vampire's Edge' blood covered blade before sheathing the inherited sword. "Someone who out-brutalizes you, Nanako. I just hope he doesn't light me on fire."

Nanako scoffed at the comment. "That only happened once Minami. You make it sound like all I did was light you on fire."

"Once is enough."

"As much as I like sittin' around sippin' tea and gossipin', but where'd the fucknuts the guy with da cross bow run off ta?" M asked while walking over to join the two ladies, thumbing to the spot the last man had been standing.

Nanako glanced behind the large man and spotted a lone shimmering slowly approaching the body of the leader of the decimated group. "There." She replied, cocking the shotgun in her hands and unloaded the last round of buckshot right into the middle of shimmer. The man reappeared as he blasted back against the subway car of that sat towards the back. Moving forward quickly, Nanako picked up the repeating crossbow and pointed it at the man. He looked up just in time to have a bolt put through the middle of his face mask.

"Alright, who's ready to head back to homebase?" Nanako asked, smirking as she now dual-wield the shotgun and repeating crossbow. Without waiting for her two companions to answer, she headed back up the escalator.

"Righ' behind ya, Koko-babe." M called after her, grabbing the claw from the woman and the assault rifles from the other men before heading up after Nanako.

Looking around at the devastation, Minami shook her head as she went over and collected the two boxes of supplies. It seemed like she had done nothing but kill today. She was starting to wish for the good ol' days. Once at the top of escalator she looked back at the hanging bodies of her friends. There wasn't anything she could do for them right now. She didn't have anything to get them down with. Maybe she could get some high explosives from M and just level this entire place. Too many bodies and too many memories. Turning her back on the sight of the hanging bodies, she collected the rest of hers and Yutaka's things from the room they shared before leaving the bloodied Metro Station. Hopefully…for the last time.


End file.
